Rod McNicol

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Rod McNicol
Self-portrait, 1978
Self-portrait, 1978
Background information
Born1946 (1946)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died (aged 79)

Rodney McNicol (1946 – 8 October 2025) was an Australian photographer.

Life and career

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In 1968 he left for Europe and spent the following four years travelling and working in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. He returned to Australia in 1973 and studied photography at Prahran College in 1974. In 1975 he co-founded The Photographers' Gallery and Workshop in South Yarra.[1]

McNicol held his first exhibition (shared with Carol Jerrems) at Brummels Gallery in 1978.[2] Later that year he moved into an old warehouse studio in Fitzroy. He lived and worked in the old daylit studio since then, refining and defining his fascination with photographic portraiture.[3]

McNicol found his sitters from among those around him, his peers, his friends and other subjects from the rich inner-city life of his milieu. Echoing early 19th-century photographic portraiture by evoking a gentle stillness tempered by an unrelenting directness to the camera, he pared portraiture back to something of its bare essence.[1]

McNicol studied photography at Prahran College 1970s[4] and in 2007 he completed an Masters of Fine Art degree at Monash University.[1]

In 2004, he won the Australian Photographic Portrait Prize[5] at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and in 2012 he won the National Photographic Portrait Prize,[6] held at the National Portrait Gallery (Australia). He worked in major collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery (Australia), the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

McNicol died on 8 October 2025, at the age of 79.[7]

Selected solo exhibitions

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McNicol with Jack Charles and his portrait of Charles

Collections

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  • "Art Gallery of NSW – Rod McNicol". Art Gallery of NSW. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  • "Rod McNicol – National Gallery of Victoria". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  • "Rod McNicol – National Gallery of Australia". National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  • "Rod McNicol – National Portrait Gallery". National Portrait. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  • National Library of Australia, Canberra[citation needed]
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, France[citation needed]
  • City of Port Phillip, Melbourne[citation needed]
  • City of Yarra, Melbourne[citation needed]
  • Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland[citation needed]
  • "MAPh – Rod McNicol". MAPh (Museum of Australian Photography). Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  • Tweed River Gallery, NSW[citation needed]
  • Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, Queensland[citation needed]

Publications

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  • McNicol, Rod (2014) "The Existential Portrait", MGA[11]
  • McNicol, Rod (2022), Rod McNicol A Portrait, M.33, ISBN 978-0-6484899-7-9[12]
  • McNicol, Rod (2024) "BRUMMELS 1978", Light Of Day Books[13]

Video interviews

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References

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  1. ^ a b c McArdle, James (28 January 2024). "The Alumni: Rod McNicol". Prahran Photography The Legacy of Prahran College 1970s photography. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  2. ^ "Rod McNicol". National Portrait gallery. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Film screening of "Rod McNicol and His Portraits", 2024. This film offers insight into the evolution of McNicol's work and his long-standing studio residence". MAPh Museum Australian Photography. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  4. ^ "National Photographic Portrait Prize 2004". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Artist talk and book signing with Rod McNicol". Yarra City. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  6. ^ "National Photographic Portrait Prize 2012". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
  7. ^ "Celebrated Australian photographer Rod McNicol dies aged 79"
  8. ^ "Rod McNicol: Portraits From My Village". CCP. 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Rod McNicol: memento mori". MAPh. 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  10. ^ "January 29: Eternal". On This Date in Photography. 2025. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  11. ^ "The Existential Portrait". ISSUU. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  12. ^ "Rod McNicol A Portrait". M.33. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  13. ^ "BRUMMELS 1978". World Food Books. Retrieved 4 March 2025.