On June 1 Auckland audiences are offered a rare opportunity to see some of the most famous images in photographic history when vintage black and white prints from the famous Seresin Collection line the walls of the Auckland Museum for a 3 week exhibition as part of the 2007 Auckland Festival of Photography.

Public exhibitions often focus on modern prints by single individuals. Another View: International Photographs from the Seresin Family Collection by contrast, provides an intensely beautiful encapsulation of modernist photography’s key styles and many of its key image-makers, who represented for Seresin a unique and revelating portrait of the world.

Photographers featured boast some of the best known names from early to mid 20th century, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Ketesz, Josef Sudek and Bill Brandt among others. Artists and musicians are a particular focus in the exhibition, including two portraits of Picasso. Through the thirty-six unforgettable photographs the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see some of the most famous images from photographic history in their original form as vintage black and white prints. Because of their age and calibre these prints are very valuable.

Assembled by expatriate New Zealander and cinematographer Michael Seresin this family collection has recently been made available to public audiences all over the country. The photographic images featured combine delicate portraiture, planes, trains and automobiles.

Seresin was the cinematographer on Roger Donaldson’s 1977 film Sleeping Dogs and later made many films with Alan Parker (Midnight Express, Birdy, Angelas Ashes) through to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and others. Like Donaldson and Sam Neill, Seresin has re-established a base in New Zealand over the last decade with the successful Seresin Estate winery and olive grove. He continues to give generous support to the visual arts and culture in New Zealand through the winery and his boatshed restaurant at Waterfall Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.