Ruth Miriam Hollick (1883 – 1977): award-winning photographer from Moonee Ponds

Ruth Hollick grew up in Moonee Ponds as the youngest of 13 children. Her parents, both English-born, were Harry Ebenezer Hollick, civil servant and his wife Frances Jane, née Cole.

Without any formal training Hollick started taking portraits in her family home where she had set up a dark room. This was in her early twenties and by then she had already completed studies at the National Gallery school of design 1902-1906.

In 1908 Hollick had bought a French car and travelled around the Riverina and Western District of Victoria, doing freelance photographer work. Most of this work was done in outdoor settings, with families and children casually staged.

Trio of identically dressed children seated under one rain umbrella Author / Creator Hollick, Ruth 1883-1977 photographer. Date ca. 1910-ca. 1930. State Library Victoria

Hollick later returned to Moonee Ponds and continued working from her family home until 1918, when she moved into a studio on Collins Street that she purchased together with her professional and personal partner Dorothy Izard. As the depression came Hollick gave up her studio on Collins Street and went back to working from her family home in Moonee Ponds. Eventually she retired at the age of 75.

As Hollick had no formal training she would experiment and through this generate her very own style which was characterised by dramatic composition and the use of natural light.

In the 1920s Hollick was considered one of Melbourne’s leading photographers. During this time she worked for a variety of magazines and had become known for her fashion photography, portraits of high society figures and celebrities and her speciality of photographing children.

Installation view 2 of Ruth Hollick Exhibition 1928 Author / Creator Hollick, Ruth, 1883-1977, photographer. Date [1928] State Library Victoria Hollicks’s career spanned several decades and she was exhibited extensively, both in Australia and internationally.

Sources

Australian Dictionary of Biography http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE5986b.htm

The Australian Women’s Register https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hollick-ruth-miriam-10521

Fashion illustration for Home Myers Author / Creator Hollick, Ruth, 1883-1977, photographer. Date [ca. 1910-ca. 1930] State Library Victoria

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