John Cato

John Chester Cato
John Cato and Athol Shmith c. 1955
Born	2 November 1926 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Died	30 January 2011 (aged 84) Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Photographer and teacher
Nationality	Australian
Spouse	Dawn Cato

John Chester Cato (2 November 1926 – 30 January 2011) was an Australian photographer and teacher. Cato started his career as a commercial photographer and later moved towards fine art photography and education. Cato spent most of his life in Melbourne, Australia.

Photography career

John Cato and fiancee, Dawn Cadwallader

Cato's career in photography started at the age of 12 as an apprentice to his father, Jack Cato. Returning in 1946 after service in the Pacific for the Royal Australian Navy during WW2, Cato worked as a self-employed photographer before being employed by Argus Newspaper as a photojournalist in 1947. Cato held that position until 1950 when he became a photographer and assistant for Athol Shmith Pty Ltd. in the Rue de la Paix building at 125 Collins Street, Melbourne. He married Dawn Helen Cadwallader of Brighton at the register at St. Mary's Church of England, East Caulfield, in October that year. Their eldest son, also John, was born in 1952.

During this period he undertook research for his father Jack on the latter's The Story of the Camera in Australia published in 1955. In 1955, Cato and Shmith became business partners and started Athol Shmith-John Cato Pty Ltd

When in 1959–60 the MoMA The Family of Man exhibition toured Australia Cato visited the show several times and was inspired by its humanist themes and optimism. He moved away from the commercial photography world in 1974 after experiencing what he described as "a kind of menopause". Shortly after leaving his partnership with Athol Shmith, Cato began his teaching career and started to focus on fine art photography. Cato was one of the first photographers in Melbourne to give up their commercial practice to become a fine art photographer.

Fine art photography

In 1970, four years before leaving his commercial practice, Cato began exploring photography as an art form. His fine art photography drew connections between humanity and the environment, exploring a different theme in each photo essay.

Cato made 'straight' (directly imaged) landscape photographs usually with large or medium-format cameras in order to "explore the elements of the landscape", usually enhancing these in printing. Over a ten-year period, Cato spent two years at a time focusing on a particular symbolic theme in the Australian landscape, often spending a large amount of time in the wilderness observing the conditions and waiting for the perfect opportunity. He would often wait and contemplate a scene for days before finally pressing the shutter when the moment was right. Cato's work was deeply considered and clearly showed his unique perspective on the natural elements around us.

"The meeting of land and sea has always held a mystic fascination for me. Through my camera, my experience of it has been heightened, my awareness of its wonder deepened. Above all, I remember its clamorous silence."

John Cato 1976

Cato frequently used symbolism and mysticism in his work. This was popular in the 1970s amongst both new and experienced photographers, including his colleague Paul Cox.

The debate around the question of the status of photography as an art form was quite relevant during Cato's time. Some think of Cato as one of the first Australian photographers to blend the idea of a photograph being both a creative interpretation of a scene and a recording of reality. Some photographers of a similar era, such as Ansel Adams, were more technical in their photography, resulting in less manipulation or interpretation of the scene when compared to Cato's work, whose imagery and photographic print making is more appropriately compared to that of Minor White or Bill Brandt. Cinematographer Nino Martinetti, one of Cato's past students, said "Look carefully at John Cato’s simple photographs of rocks, branches, trees, bark, sand, water and reflections… is that reality? Yes, but not as many people see it. This is the fine line where the art of photography and reality stand, where the artist captures an emotion for us to share and interpret."

Cato's personal work was described as "a reflection of the psyche, not of light, that allows a consciousness to be present in the figuration of the photographic prints. The personal work is an expression of his self, his experience, his story and his language." Gallery director Rebecca Hossack" reports that

"Cato is not content to see himself merely as an 'artist' or a 'photographer.' He describes himself - in his beliefs - as an 'animist':

"I believe that rocks have souls just as much as people. I think the word that has been used about my work which pleases me the most, is [.] Elemental, and it is that element of life within the landscape that to some is a deep religious experience."

It is a vision that he traces back to the mythology of the Ancient Greeks, but it has interesting resonances, too, with the beliefs of the Australian aboriginals and the practice of their art."

Earth Song

Earth Song was Cato's first collection of personal work to be exhibited. This series consisted of 52 colour photographs sequenced in a way that allowed the work to be recognised as individual photographs and as part of an overall concept. Cato's use of musical analogies can be seen in the sequencing of Earth Song. The sequence was described as using "melodic line and symphonic form as its metaphoric basis".

Earth Song was exhibited as part of the Frontiers exhibition, a group show at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1971. The group consisted of photographers who were exploring the idea of photography as an art form and were looking for a way to see the world differently through their camera.

Essay 1: Landscapes in a Figure

In Cato's first photographic essay, he completed five black and white photo sequences between 1971 and 1979. In each sequence, Cato explored the expression of nature and creation, which he saw as the physical representation of his own life experiences and philosophy.

Series title	Number of photographs	Produced between
Tree - A Journey	18 images	1971 - 1973
Petroglyphs	14 images	1971 - 1973
Seawind	14 images	1971 - 1975
Proteus	18 images	1974 - 1977
Waterway	16 images	1974 - 1979

Essay 2: Figures in a Landscape

Essay 2 is more politically driven compared to other work and focuses on "the sublimation of Aboriginal culture by Europeans". This series explores the idea of destruction of culture, spirituality and physicality using duality to represent the idea photographically.

"Cato saw that even as they are part of the whole, the duality of positive/negative, black/white, masculine/feminine are always in conflict."

John Cato: Retrospective

Series title	Number of photographs	Produced between
Alcheringa	11 images	1978 - 1981
Broken Spears	11 images	1978 - 1983
Mantracks	22 images (in pairs)	1978 - 1983

Double Concerto: An Essay in Fiction

Double Concerto was Cato's final photo essay. This photo essay was published under the deliberately androgynous 'Everyman' names Pat Noone and Chris Noone, two identities that Cato created to "visualise alternative conditions within himself". Each sequence explored how individual people can witness and experience the world very differently from each other. This series was exhibited as Cato's "farewell show" at Luba Bilu Gallery in Greville St. Prahran on his retirement from teaching.

"For the truth of the matter is that people have mixed feelings and confused opinions and are subject to contradictory expectations and outcomes, in every sphere of experience."

John Cato: Retrospective

Series title	Number of photographs	Produced between
Pat Noone	30 images	1984 - 1990
Chris Noone	11 images	1985 - 1991

Teaching career

Cato began his teaching career in 1974 at Prahran College of Advanced Education. Between 1977 and 1979 Cato also contributed to the foundation of Photography Studies College and concurrently lectured there until becoming full-time head of the photography department at Prahran. Cato held the position of department head until his retirement in 1991. Cato was a passionate and generous teacher and was highly regarded by his students and peers. He described himself as being "duty bound" to share his experience with students and colleagues, and they benefitted from his close knowledge of the history of Australian photography attained as he assisted his father in research for The Story of the Camera in Australia, and in meeting its protagonists.

Many of Cato's past students have gone on to hold well regarded positions in the photography, art and education fields and as Deborah Ely notes "the department produced some of the country's most acclaimed practitioners, including Bill Henson, Carol Jerrems, Steve Lojewski, Rozalind Drummond, Janina Green and Christopher Koller among others. Henson, who regarded Cato as "very generous and enthusiastic", was inspired by his use of musical analogies, which Henson later incorporated in his own work.

Paul Cox, one of Cato's colleagues at Prahran College of Advanced Education, remarked that while the staff of Cato's department were photographers, none of them were qualified teachers; "Can you imagine that happening today? … At Prahran, teachers and students learnt from each other. It was an exchange."

Cato preferred to use large and medium format cameras in his own work for the higher resolution that they offered and when taking students on excursions, he insisted they use the same instead of 35mm SLR cameras that they more commonly used, so that the more technical view camera would force students think before they pressed the shutter and pre-visualise their photograph, rather than to 'blaze away' with expendable roll film. Cato strongly believed in photography as a form of individualised expressionism, a view that was shared by Athol Shmith, who was one of the first to teach photography as a creative course in the late 1960s.

In 1992 Prahran College was subsumed into the Victorian College of the Arts, formerly the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, and Christopher Koller, one of Cato's former students, was made head of its Photography department, inheriting his mentor's belief in the importance of conceptualisation and revisualisation in the medium.

Exhibitions and galleries

Cato exhibited his work with other photographers in 24 group exhibitions between 1964 and 2003. and in 17 solo exhibitions in Australian and international galleries. In 1973 he was included with Stan Ostoja-Kotkowski, Mark Strizic, Peter Medlen and John Wilkins in Frontiers at the NGV which toured to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok, June 27– July 5 and showed at Abraxas Gallery, Manuka, in December 1974 with Sue Ford, Les Gray and Mark Strizic. Cato's first solo exhibition was held at Horsham Art Gallery (Victoria, Australia) in 1975, with subsequent solo exhibitions being held every few years up until 2004.

Cato's work is held in numerous gallery collections across Australia including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, Horsham Art Gallery, Albury Regional Art Gallery, Deakin University, Tasmanian Art Gallery and Melbourne State College. In addition to Australian galleries, Cato's work is also held in collections in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and Schmidtbank Weiden in Germany.

Paul Cox and Bryan Gracey, both teachers at Prahran College, co-curated a collection of Cato's work to be exhibited at the 2013 Ballarat International Foto Biennale. Cox and Gracey both believe that Cato's work deserves to be seen and recognised for what it is. The exhibition features Cato's black and white landscape photographs taken between 1971 and 1991. In regard to the exhibition, Paul Cox said "John will ride a high wave. He belongs in the National Gallery, in the high echelons and I think this is a very wonderful first step."

Solo exhibitions

• 1975 Horsham Art Gallery (Victoria)
• 1976, February, joint exhibition with Laurie Wilson, Australian Centre for Photography (NSW)
• 1976 Gallery School of Photographic Art (Victoria)
• 1977, 25 August – 18 September: John Cato Photographers' Gallery (Melbourne)
• 1979, to 29 March, Essay : Photographs by John Cato, Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney)
• 1979, to 14 September, Waterway, Church Street Centre for Photography
• 1980 McClelland Gallery (Victoria)
• 1982 Prahran College of Advanced Education
• 1984 lwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth University (F.G.R)
• 1985 Australian Centre for Photography (NSW)
• 1991 Luba Bilu Gallery, Victoria
• 1992 Horsham Art Gallery, Victoria
• 1993 Albury Regional Art Centre (NSW)
• 1995 lwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth University (G.D.R)
• 1997, 27 March–13 April: John Cato Retrospective. Photographers' Gallery (Victoria)
• 2002 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
• 2004 Wilderness Gallery (Cradle Mountain N.P. Centre) Tasmania
• 2004 Kunst Keller, Cologne

Group exhibitions

• 1964 Gallery 'A' Melbourne
• 1971 National Gallery of Victoria
• 1971–73 Touring Exhibition (Tokyo, Manila, Seoul, etc.)
• 1974, 23 November–15 December with Sue Ford, Les Gray and Mark Strizic, 'Abraxas' Gallery, Manuka, Canberra
• 1975 Museum and Art Gallery of Tasmania, Hobart
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1975–76 Touring Exhibition (India, Africa, etc)
• 1976 1977 Victorian College of the Arts Gallery
• 1979 Antiquarian Booksellers, Melbourne
• 1979, 25 May – 24 June: Benefit Exhibition. Photographers: Greg Wayn, Brett Weston, Les Walkling, Paul Caponigro, Edna Bullock, Wynn Bullock, Aaron Siskind, John Cato, Ralph Gibson, Robert Besanko, Boone Morrison. Photographers' Gallery, Melbourne
• 1982 Church Street Photographic Centre (Victoria)
• 1982 Pitspace Phillip Institute of Technology
• 1983 City of Waverley Art Centre (Victoria)
• 1984 Camden (NSW) Art Centre
• 1984 Australian Centre of Photography (NSW)
• 1986 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1987 Patra Gallery, Melbourne
• 1988 Australian Centre of Contemporary Art,
• 1988 Melbourne, National Gallery of Australia,
• 1988 Canberra, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• 1989 Blaxland Gallery, Melbourne
• 1992 Victorian Centre for Photography
• 1993 Daimaru Gallery, Melbourne (Australian Conservation Foundation)
• 1995, April–6 May: Likeness: 46 photographs from the Waverley City Gallery collection, curated by Susan Fereday. Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy
• 1996, 7–24 November: 20th Anniversary Exhibition Ralph Gibson, Ian Lobb, Marcus Bunyan, Harry Callahan, Christopher Koller, Aaron Siskind, Gayle Slater, Paul Caponigro, Francis Busby, Hans Namuth, Les Walkling, Lisette Model, Greg Elms, Larry Clark, Kylie Hamill, Wyn Bullock, Rosemary McKeoun, William Clift, Jeff Busby, Duane Michals, Rennie Ellis, Karen Rawady, Edouard Boubat, Carol Jerrems, Eikoh Hosoe, John Cato, Peter Leiss, William Eggleston, Robert Besanko, Paul Nadalin, John Divola, Colin Vickery, Eliot Porter, Warren Brenninger, Emmet Gowin, Bill Henson. Photographers' Gallery, Melbourne.
• 1995 Victorian Centre for Photography
• 1997, April–11 May: 100 Years of Australian Photography, City of Waverley Art Centre (Victoria), and touring
• 2003 Brighton University United Kingdom

Collections

• Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris)
• National Gallery of Victoria
• National Gallery of Australia
• Department of Foreign Affairs
• Tasmanian Art Gallery (Hobart)
• Swinburne Institute of Technology, Melbourne
• Melbourne State College
• City of Waverley Art Collection
• World Congress Centre, Melbourne
• Horsham Art Gallery
• Albury Regional Art Centre
• Deakin University
• Schmidtbank Weidcn, Germany

Aside from staging his own exhibitions, Cato was instrumental in the acceptance of photography into the mainstream art establishment. After considerable lobbying by Shmith and others a separate Department of Photography had been established at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne. Cato served on an advisory group formed in 1969 during the establishment of the gallery's new Photography Department and oversaw the appointment of the first curator of photography in Australia, Jennie Boddington in 1972.

Publications

• Cato, John; Cato, Jack (1970). Cato Jack. John Cato : Proteus. Light Quest Publications Pty 1970 (Limited (500 copies) ed.). South Yarra: Light Quest Publications Pty. Ltd.,. OCLC 226145288.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• National Gallery of Victoria (1988). Photographs by John Cato Wolfgang Sievers and Mark Strizic 1955-75 : Catalogue of an exhibition held Apr. 2-June 19, 1988. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria. OCLC 84412702.

Critical reception, legacy and awards

Ruth Faerber, comparing his work with co-exhibitor Laurie Wilson's in 1976, noted Cato's "dramatic and expansive themes"; "the sweeping movement of wind, the growth pattern in the cross-section of a tree trunk," and in 1979, of his solo show at AGNSW commented that his "textures of trees. rocks and weathered surfaces take on a graphic surrealist" quality. In a review of Cato's 1997 retrospective at The Photographers' Gallery, The Age reviewer Freda Freiberg noted his achievements;

Cato has made an inestimable contribution to photography in this state as a teacher. As an artist he has pursued an intense engagement with nature—with trees, rocks and skies. He studies, anatomises, magnifies and glorifies the manifold designs and patterns of creation. The social world is absent—except in the Mantracks series, where graffiti on rocks and debris on trees signify the disfiguring effects of an imported culture. But even here, Cato is less social critic than contemplative observer. He finds perfect objective correlatives to his private inner states in the darkness and light, solidity ad softness, and infinite variety of pattern in tree trunks, clouds and rock faces.

In the 2013 Ballarat International Foto Biennale guide, Cato was described as being "underrated" and "far ahead of his time".

Paul Cox said the following in an article for The Australian: "He was a dreamer. I always adored him. John had a wonderful heart; he was tender for a man. You know you don’t know many people like that."

Nevertheless, Cato was known for being a very humble photographer who never intended fame for himself or his work, which was its own reward. Consequently, and from a strong dislike of publicity, Cato would sometimes issue his work under pseudonyms, characteristically exhibiting his valedictory exhibition as 'Pat and Chris Noone'. Paul Cox confirmed that "Ego is always the biggest limitation of an artist, but John had no ego. He was a free man." Isobel Crombie, head photography curator at the National Gallery of Victoria, shared Cox's opinion and said "He was different in that he did not have the huge ego of some of his contemporaries."

Melissa Miles, writing in 2015 places Cato amongst John Kauffmann, Cecil Bostock, Olive Cotton, Max Dupain, Laurence Le Guay, Richard Waldendorp, David Moore and Grant Mudford who "together represent the broad sweep of abstraction from the steely industrial shapes associated with the straight style to the images aimed at capturing movement and the organic and unruly images derived from nature."

Honorary appointments

Over his career, Cato was active in national and international networking amongst the photographic and art education fields. He filled a number of honorary roles including one that was a request by Prahran graduates Euan McGillivray, the Curator of Photography at the Science Museum of Victoria, and Matthew Nickson, who worked at the Photography Department at RMIT, to chair the landmark conference 'Working Papers On Photography' (WOPOP) Australian Photography Conference, held at Prahran College of Advanced Education, Melbourne, from 19–21 September 1980.

• 1969–76 Photography Advisor, National Gallery of Victoria
• 1976 Consultant for Grant Selection, Australia Council
• 1977–80 Executive Council, Australian Centre for Photography
• 1977–87 Honours Executive and Juror, Institute of Australian Photography
• 1978–79 Course Advisor, Victorian College of the Arts
• 1978–82 International Advisory Board, History of Photography (Pennsylvania State University)
• 1979 Executive Council, Australian Photography Educational Council
• 1980 Course Advisor, Bendigo College of Advanced Education
• 1980–82 Advisor, City of Waverley Art Collection
• 1981 Chairman, Australian Photography Education Council
• 1982 Chairman, WOPOP Photography Conference
• 1981–91 Course Advisor and External Assessor, Photography Studies College, Melbourne
• 1982 Researcher and curator 'Jack Cato' a Retrospective Exhibition
• 1985–86 Foundation Member and Steering Committee, and Design, Victoria College Victoria Centre for Photography
• 1987–89 Advisory Board, Victorian Centre for Photography

Awards

Cato was honoured with numerous awards including Fellow at the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers (1991) and Honorary Doctor of Arts at RMIT University (1999). He was also awarded two grants, one a Visual Arts Board Travel Grant in 1985 and the other a Research and Development Grant from Victoria College in 1990.

• 1962 Associate Australian Institute of Photography
• 1978 Honorary Fellow, Australian Institute of Photography
• 1985 Visual Arts Board Travel Grant (Europe)
• 1990 Research and Development Grant, Victoria College
• 1991 Fellow, Australian Institute of Professional Photography
• 1999 Honorary Doctor of Arts, RMIT University