Rudolph David Buchner was a Sydney photographer whose parents lived in Manly. He worked from a studio in the Albert Buildings, 110 Bathurst street, Sydney.
His sitters included architect Walter Burley Griffin, Louise Lovely (born Nellie Louise Carbasse) credited as being the first Australian actress to have a success in Hollywood; artist Elioth Gruner on the eve of his departure to Europe in 1923; writer Dame Mary Gilmore; the trick roller-skater Jacob ‘Yarka’ Lewis; Will Lawson (1876 – 1957) a popular bush poet, novelist, journalist and historian of Australia; Australian politician Hector Lamond (1865 – 1947) Nationalist Party member of the Australian House of Representatives 1917-1922, representing the electorate of Illawarra; Raymond Gosford Watt (1889-1967), lecturer, broadcaster and public relations consultant and foundation member of the New South Wales League of Nations Union (LNU); Mary Proctor FRAS FRMetS (1862 – 1957) a British-American populariser of astronomy; Alexander Prince (1874 – 1928) Scottish early 20th-century vaudeville musician and recording artist who played the concertina; Australian novelist and playwright Louis Stone (1871 – 1935); American pioneer film actor, director and producer Fred Niblo (Frederick Liedtke; 1874 – 1948); stage and film actor Field Fisher; British actor and vocalist Derek Hudson; English musical comedy actress Gertrude Glyn; and Australian stage and film actor Gertrude Boswell.
Buchner’s portraits, signed by him in art nouveau lettering, were of significant Australians and visiting performers from overseas. They appeared from about 1912 in The Lone Hand, The Home, The Bulletin, The Sydney Morning Herald and other publications.
World War I interrupted his practice. He served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces then returned to Sydney after the War, after which his pictures were published less frequently.
He died on 19 Jan 1972 and is buried in Rookwood General Cemetery in Sydney.
His photograph of Dame Mary Gilmore in 1912 is collected with several others in the Mitchell Library (State Library of New South Wales) and was included in Helen Ennis’s exhibition Mirror with a Memory (Canberra: National Portrait Gallery, 2000).
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2024
