Axel Poignant

• Name — Axel Poignant • Born — 12 December 1906 • Died — 5 February 1986 • Birthplace — Leeds, England • Field — Photography • Spouse — Sandra St Lucien Eliot Chase, 1930–1941 (div.) Ruth Marjorie Pettersen, 1942–1953 (her death) Roslyn Betty Izatt, 1953–1986 (his death)

Poignant was born on 12 December 1906 in Leeds, England, to a Swedish father and an English mother. He had a younger sister. He was educated at Grosvenor House School in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and then moved to Sweden at the end of 1918 where he finished the rest of his education. He returned to England in 1925, then emigrated to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in July 1926 under the Dreadnought Scheme. He travelled from place to place looking for work throughout Sydney and New South Wales. Poignant married Sandra St Lucien Eliot Chase on 21 April 1930 and they moved to Perth, Western Australia, where he specialised in portrait photography, personal events as well as aerial photography for Western Mining. Poignant and Sandra divorced in 1941. Poignant became a citizen of Australia on 8 July 1942 in Perth, and married Ruth Marjorie Pettersen the same month. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force the following year; he was discharged in 1945. His second wife died in 1953, and on 24 October 1953 Poignant married Roslyn Betty Izatt, a film technician, in Sydney. He had known her since 1950 and they were both life and photographic partners. In 1956, they moved to England, where Poignant died on 5 February 1986 at his home in Lewisham, London. He had no children.

• In September 1941 Poignant and Hal Missingham held an exhibition of fifty photographs each. They gave conversational lectures at the Perth Newspaper House. • Poignant's Retrospective series 1982 were exhibited in different states displaying photographs he had taken throughout the years 1922 to 1980. The Art Gallery of New South Wales organised his exhibitions. • 1982 exhibition was held at NSW Art Gallery: This exhibition was taken to different states. 107 photographs were displayed from the years 1922 to 1980. • 1982 Exhibition held at Art Gallery of Western Australia: AGNSW touring exhibition. Poignant's series of photographs displayed Kalgoorlie, the Canning Stock Route and Central Australia. • Illustration — Leading the Dance 1952, Printed 1983. Retrospective Exhibition 1982 • 1983 Exhibition held at National Gallery of Victoria: Solo Survey Exhibition Linkage Project, Tasmanian School of Arts, UTAS. Photographs, 1922-1980. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1982. • 1983 Exhibition held at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: This exhibition for Poignant was organised by the NSW Art Gallery (AGNSW). "A major survey of this well known Australian photographer whose reputation was established as a chronicler of Australian life and especially of the Australian Aborigine." • In 1986 Poignant's work was shown in Aspects of Post Modernism 1929-1942, which was held at the University of Western Australia in 1986. • After Poignant's death, the National Library of Australia, Canberra, and the art galleries of Western Australia and New South Wales held collections of his work. • In 2007 the Art Gallery of New South Wales held an exhibition of his work on Indigenous Connections. The Australian National Portrait Gallery also has a number of his works in its collection.