The Picture House Gallery & Bookshop

A leading Australian actor with a long career in the visual and performing arts.

Starting as a painter and sculptor, Max studied acting under Hayes Gordon at The Ensemble Theatre which led to performances in over a dozen plays.  Since then he has had a prolific acting career on stage, in film and on television.  He has performed in plays such as Emerald City, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, The Cheery Soul, Hamlet, A Street Car Named Desire, As You Like It, Death Of A Salesman, Small Poppies, The Great Man, Scenes From A Separation and The Daylight Atheist

Max’s most recent film credits include Australia, Spider & Rose, Billy’s Holiday, Kiss or Kill, Nugget and Jindabyne.   He has also featured in some 50 television programmes such as Skippy, Matlock, Bodyline, Cowra Breakout, The Flying Doctors, A Country Practice, Police Rescue, G.P., The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, McLeod’s Daughters,  All Saints and Love My Way and Black Jack.

For his work Max received the 1984 Logie Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Last Bastion, the 1986 Penguin Award for Best Performance by an Actor in The Flying Doctors, the 1990 Sydney Theatre Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Tempest, the 1994 Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in Spider and Rose and the 1994 AFI Award for the same, the 1999 Green Room Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in Cloudstreet, 2004 Icon Award for Cinema Owners Association of Australia. 2005 nominated AFI award, best supporting actor, Love My Way.

ART EDUCATION

1956                 Studied art, The National Art School, East Sydney Technical College.

1959-60            Studied, Julian Ashton Art School.

1962                 Studied Sculpture under Lyndon Dadswell, The National Art School, Sydney.

AWARDS + PRIZES

1957                 Finalist, The Blake Prize, Sydney.

1961                 Finalist, Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW.

1967                 Finalist, Mirror-Waratah Art Competition.

1968                 Finalist, Alcorso-SekersTravelling Scholarship Award for Sculpture, Art Gallery of NSW.

1999                 Finalist, Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of NSW.

2000                 Finalist, The Archibald Prize, Geoffrey Rush, Art Gallery of NSW.

2003                 Finalist, The Mosman Art Prize, Sydney.

2004                 Finalist, Country Energy Art Award, Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, Australia,

                        Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney.

2005                 Finalist, Country Energy Art Award, Grafton Regional Gallery, Australia.

2006                 Finalist, Salon des Refuses, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1964                 Young Contemporaries Exhibition, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney.

1967                 Two man sculpture exhibition with Barney Rahill, Central Street Gallery, Sydney.

1968                 Young Contemporaries Exhibition, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney.

1970-87             Watters Gallery, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney Opera House.

                                Designer/Art Director for Theatre, Film and Television.

                        Directed plays, performances for Television, wrote and directed Short films.

                        Performed extensively - stage, television and film.

1991                 Studio Show with Wallace Randolph, Sculptures and Reliefs, Sydney.

1995                 Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

1996                 Flagging Australia, Sherman Gallery, Sydney.

1997-98            Various Group Shows, Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

2000                 Norton Gallery, Sydney.

2000                 Sydney Theatre Company portrait for the set of The Great Man.

2001                 Various Group Exhibitions, Sydney.

2002                 Studio Show with David Naseby, Sydney.

2003                 Ned Kelly Exhibition – S.H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney.

2003                 Art House Hotel Exhibition, Paintings, Prints + Sculpture, Sydney.

2003                 James Joyce Exhibition, Sculpture – Art House Hotel.

2003                 Sculpture Group Show – Defiance Gallery, Sydney.

2004                 Double Act – Solander Gallery, Canberra.           

2004                 Artist’s In Residence – Sydney Theatre Company, The Wharf Gallery.

2004                 Site Specific – Invited Artist, Marlene Antico Fine Arts Gallery, Sydney.    

2005                 Australian Icons Framed – National Trust Auction – Sotheby’s Sydney.

2005                 Country Energy Art Award – Parliament House, Sydney.

2006                 Field Works – Michael Commerford Gallery, Sydney.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1968                 Rare Stamps, silk screen prints on canvas, paper + sculpture, Central Street Gallery, Sydney.

1968                 Black Room - prints and sculpture, Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne.

1969                 Three Dimensional Drawings – painted timber constructions, Central Street Gallery, Sydney.

1988                 The Shroud of Turin – silk screen and painting on canvas, Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

1995                 A Survey – 1965-1995, work from private collections + recent work, Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

1996                 Collage + Landscape Deconstruction, Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

1997                 Recent Work, Coventry Gallery, Sydney.

2000                 Paintings and Collage, Norton Gallery, Sydney.

2000                 TV Installation, Gallery 19, Sydney.

2003                 Paintings, Prints + Sculpture, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney.

COLLECTIONS

• The City of Sydney.
• Patrick White Collection.
• Monash University, Melbourne.
• The National Gallery, Canberra.
• The Powerhouse Museum.
• Coventry Collection.
• Regional Galleries.
• Private collections in Australia, United State and Ireland.