Frank Zaetta was a polymath: a photographer, a novelist, a composer, an actor, a musician, a painter. He lived and worked in Mildura as a studio-based photographer after migrating from Italy. From 1930 to the mid-sixties he worked solidly, capturing individuals, debutantes, families, bridal groups, sports teams and others from Mildura and its surroundings. Nearly every formal photograph in our home had been taken by Frank Zaetta. I asked locals to support an exhibition of Zaetta portraits and group shots by volunteering photos they would be happy to show publicly. The response was overwhelming and confirmed for me the impact this one man had had on many. The images, while specific and personal, were often also generic in the themes and eras they represented. Subsequently, the cross-section of viewers to the gallery ranged from people in their 80s, to their children and grandchildren. It ably demonstrated the unique link between the generations that continues to be provided by Frank Zaetta’s work, and Mildura’s collective connection to his former studios in 8th Street.
FRANK’S VIEW: Photography from the studio of Frank Zaetta (1908 – 1993)
Exhibition opening Thursday 20 December
6.00 pm, 2012
Stefano’s Gallery 25
Statement
I was inspired to curate this exhibition because of my continuing interest in the pioneering spirit of the migrant and most particularly, the legacy that has influenced modern Australia by Italian migration. More personally, one photograph taken by Frank Zaetta of my paternal grandparents, my father and my uncle in the 1950’s, reflects for me the great hope of the still image to represent success and well-being. In that image of my family, the reality of toil and difficulty is absent. What remains is a projection. I find this tension between reality and artifice very compelling.
Frank Zaetta was a Swiss born Italian whose family migrated to Australia in 1925. His parents, Antonio and Adele, were from Feltre in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Antonio was a defiant anti-fascist who attempted to protect his family from the rising Fascist regime by relocating to San Gallen in Switzerland, but ultimately moved to Sydney seeking safety and better prospects.
While some of his children could see the opportunity to set up a building business in Sydney, Antonio was taken with the idea of farming and instead bought a property in Pomona from a questionable contact who sold the dream of an earthly paradise in lower western New South Wales, near Mildura.
The property was nothing more than a clay pan. The Zaetta’s were heart-broken but resolved to throw themselves into the business of making bricks which they did from 1925 – 1928, their bricks still visible on the Catholic Church extension and on the St Francis Xavier school building.
However, Frank had other plans. He moved to Melbourne, imitating a Frenchman as the anti-Italian sentiment was rife, and was apprenticed by the Broothorn Photographic Studios. He also played mandolin with a trio for the Matteotti Club, an anti-Fascist meeting place for political gatherings, dances, card-playing and traditional food.
At the Matteotti Frank met Doreen whose parents owned the Lemon Tree Hotel in Carlton. To woo her, Frank would park the trio in front of her family’s business and serenade his sweetheart in true romantic style.
The couple were married in 1935 and moved to Mildura where they set up Zaetta’s Photography on 8th Street between Langtree and Deakin Avenues. They had two daughters, Louise and Julia. Louise, a copy editor and author, died in 2007. Her ashes were scattered at the confluence of the Darling and Murray rivers in Wentworth. Julia, my primary source for most of this history, is a journalist who is currently editor of Better Homes and Gardens and is associated with the highly successful television program of the same name.
Julia remembers her father fondly as a great story-teller, a handsome man, indeed, a romantic figure who took it upon himself to hone his English literacy skills so that he could help his fellow country men overcome difficulties with insurance policies and other formal applications and documents. His leadership skills extended to his family also. He set up Mario in Swan Hill and Arturo in Wangaratta with their own studios, while Antonio Junior (Bollywood star, Tania Zaetta’s father) stayed on to help his father in the brickworks, and sister, Rina, married and moved to Melbourne.
This charismatic man founded the Mildura Symphony Orchestra for which he was the conductor. He composed an original piece of music called the Sonata in G which was presented to Council. Julia’s recounting of her mother’s memories are touching: Doreen told her that she fell in love with him again every time he got up onto the platform in his tails to conduct the orchestra.
Frank Zaetta may have been a loved local and an active community member, but when he applied for membership to the Mildura Club he was refused. Many years later, once the paranoia of racial prejudice had subsided he was encouraged to re-apply. He never did.
Family time was spent on the river in a cruiser that Frank himself had help built. He had a great passion for the river, painting it and taking aerial shots from a Tiger Moth for professional cartographers. His photos from the 1956 floods are archived with the Mildura Historical Society as are images of the Queen’s visit in the early 1950s.
The studio will be remembered by Mildura locals as the site for family portraits, for wedding and debutante photographs. Saturdays in the studio were particularly busy with Frank and his apprentice taking images at the church then returning to the studio for formal portraits. There were specific rooms in the studio for sitters to freshen up in, to apply make-up and with mirrors and toilettries. Doreen was there to adjust dresses and to ensure that all was perfect for the final shot.
Julia recalled that the upstairs office of the studio was strewn with pieces of beautifully coloured fabric that were given to Frank so that he could accurately hand colour the photos with oil paint to reflect the dresses that were worn.
By 1968, Frank was tiring of studio shots involving unruly children and the effort in bringing his wayward orchestra to come to rehearsals. Photography was changing too; customers no longer wanted formal studio images and were starting to take their own photos or were asking for less formal set-ups. He sold the business to his former apprentice, Michael Jobson, who was employed in 1956 at the age of 14. He continued to run it until the late 1990s.
Frank continued to travel to Mildura intermittently, helping in the studio and spending time on his beloved Murray River.
There are many many images in family homes around Mildura and beyond that were taken by Frank Zaetta. I encourage locals to submit any photos they feel would be of interest in this exhibition by December 10.
PROCESS FOR SUBMISSION
Where: Stefano’s Gallery 25, 25 Deakin Avenue Mildura
When: Daily from 8am – 3pm
How: Leave photos in designated box with the following information attached –
Contact name and number
Name of people in image
Year photo was taken
Other relevant information
The exhibition was reviewed by Melbourne-based artist, curator and writer Elizabeth Gertsakis in the 2013/14 Summer edition of Art Monthly Australia.
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