Rennie Ellis Photographer Chronology 1940-2003 Official website Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive Melbourne Australia

chronology 1940-2003

articles
exhibitions
collected works
books
bibliographical entries

1940

Rennie Ellis born, Brighton

1951-58

Educated at Brighton Grammar School in Melbourne

1959

Wins a Commonwealth scholarship to Melbourne University.

Drops out of university to work in an advertising agency

1959-62

Works for Orr, State & Associates Advertising Agency in Melbourne

1960

Begins studies at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

1963

Embarks on two years travelling around the world as seaman, hitchhiker, stowaway... visiting Europe, USA, Caribbean, the Pacific and Asia which included sailing a 40' ketch from Tangier across the Atlantic to Miami.

Buys his first camera, a Braun Paxette to record these travels

1966

Obtains his diploma from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Advertising and commences work as copywriter and TV producer with various advertising agencies.

Marries Carol Silk. Divorces 1978

1966-67

Editor in chief with Jackson Wain Advertising in Melbourne

1967-69

Creative Director of Monahan Dayman Advertising, Melbourne

1969

Disenchanted with the artifice of advertising, begins working as a freelance photo journalist, author and filmmaker

1971

First Exhibition: Kings Cross, with Wesley Stacey, Gallery A, Melbourne and Yellow house, Sydney.

Publishes Kings Cross Sydney.

Son Joshua born

1972

Founder and Director of Brummels Gallery of Photography

First exhibition: Two Views of Erotica - Carol Jerrems & Henry Talbot

Officially opened by Paul Cox.
Awarded Silver medallion for Photography from Art Directors Club of Melbourne for his photography in the Kings Cross Sydney book

1973

Part time Lecturer at the Preston Institute of Technology, Melbourne

1974

Founder and Director of Scoopix Photo Library in Prahran, Melbourne, which years later becomes the exclusive agent in Australia for the BLACK STAR agency in New York

1975

Establishes studio Rennie Ellis & Associates in Greville Street, Prahran, Melbourne which he operates from up until his death.
Exhibitions: Aussies All, 500 Collins Street, Melbourne; Snapshots, Australian Centre for Photography; Recent Australian Photography, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs; touring exhibition which travelled through Asia.
Publishes Australian Graffiti.

Acquisition of work by the Australian Embassy, Beijing, China for its Collection

1976

Wins the United Nations Habitat Award in the Australian section for "A Better Way to Live" photographic exhibition to support the U.N. Convention on Human Settlements.
Exhibition: Heroes and Anti-Heroes, with Carol Jerrems, The Photographer's Gallery, Melbourne.
Receives grant from the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council to operate Brummels Gallery of Photography for one year.

Publishes Ketut lives in Bali.
Acquisition of work by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne for its Collection

1977

Brummels Gallery is sponsored by Pentax and is renamed Pentax Brummels Gallery of Photography, opened by Phillip Adams and exhibiting Sarah Moon

1978

Exhibitions: The Phillip Morris Arts Grant 5th Annual Exhibition, Adelaide; The Way of Flesh, The Australian Centre of Photography, Sydney.
Publishes L'Australie (Switzerland).

Acquisition of work for Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.
Photographs selected by James Mollison, Director of the National Gallery of Australia and purchased by the Philip Morris Arts Grant for its Collection

1979

Exhibition: Australian Photographers, The Phillip Morris Collection, Hyde Park, Sydney
Receives grant from Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for development of book Decade - An Experience of Australia in the Seventies.
Publishes Australian Graffiti Revisited.
Photographs selected by James Mollison, Director of the National Gallery of Australia and purchased by the Philip Morris Arts Grant for its Collection

1980

Exhibitions: Australian Photographers, The Phillip Morris Collection, Alexander Gardens, Melbourne; Through The Looking Glass, with Peter Kelly and Glen O'Malley, Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane.
Becomes Correspondent and Editor in Melbourne for Australian Playboy.
Pentax Brummels Gallery of Photography closes In January.
Photographs selected by James Mollison, Director of the National Gallery of Australia and purchased by the Philip Morris Arts Grant for its Collection

1982

Publishes Railway Stations of Australia

1983

Exhibition: Australian Street Photography - The 1970's, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Publishes the first of Life's a... series Life's a Beach, in Australia & USA, selling over 30,000 copies.
Acquisition of work in the Phillip Morris Collection by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra for its Collection.

Becomes Melbourne correspondent and photographer for Mode Magazine

1984

Publishes Life's a Beer

1985

Publishes Life's a Ball and The All New Australian Graffiti

1986

Publishes Life's a Parade

1987

Publishes Life's a Beach II and Cup Fever

1988

Exhibition: Shades of Light; Photography and Australia 1839 – 1988, Australian National Gallery, Canberra

1989

Marries Kerry Oldfield

1991

Daughter Sylvie is born

1992

Exhibitions: Carnival in Rio, Westpac Gallery, Victorian Art Centre, Melbourne; Uncommon Australians - Towards a National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria; Sites of the Imagination -`Contemporary Photographers' View, Melbourne and its People, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Acquisition of work by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne for its Collection.
Becomes Melbourne correspondent and contributing photographer for Who Weekly Magazine.
Acquisition of work for the ACMP Photographers Collection

1993

Exhibitions: The Big Little Picture Show, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne; Picture Freedom, The Photographers' Gallery, London.
Becomes Co-presenter with Deborah Hutton and Jo Bailey on the Nine Network's top rating lifestyle TV programme "Looking Good" for three years.
Is appointed the official photographer for Melbourne's internationally renowned Spring Racing Carnival for two years

1994

Exhibition: Cup Fever, Myer, Melbourne.
Acquisition of work by the CUB Malthouse for its Collection

1995

Exhibitions: On the Edge, San Diego Museum of Art, USA; A Collector's Choice, The Photographers' Gallery, Melbourne

1996

Exhibitions: Further Observations, The Photographers' Gallery, Melbourne; The Australian Photographers' Collections, Byron Mapp Gallery, Sydney

1997

Exhibition: Portrait Nus, George Gallery, Melbourne.
Acquisition of work by City of Port Phillip for its Collection

1998

Exhibitions: Further Observations, United States Consulate, Melbourne; Life's Still a Beach, George Gallery, Melbourne; Waterproof, Expo, Lisbon Portugal.
Publishes Up Front and Life's Still a Beach

1999

Exhibitions: Family, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Life's Still a Beach, The Australian Embassy, Paris, France; Images of the Subcontinent, Sofitel Hotel, Melbourne: Further Observations, George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne.
Acquisition of work for the ACMP Photographers Collection

2000

Acquisition of work by the State Library of NSW, Sydney for its Collection

2001

Acquisition of work by the Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne for its Collection

2002

Exhibitions: Watermarks, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney; Documenting Australians, A Pictorial History of Australian Photography, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne; Images of Australian Men, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne; Just Married, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne.
ACMP Collection 6, Melbourne Museum.
Acquisition of work for the ACMP Photographers' Collection

2003

Exhibition: POL- Portrait of a Generation, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
Rennie Ellis dies from a cerebral haemorrhage on 19th August