John Cato

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 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 Collins Street, Melbourne and married Dawn Helen Cadwallader in October that year.[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[2][6][7][8]

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.[9][10]

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.[11][12]

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."[13]

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."[8]

Cato began his teaching career in 1975 at Prahran College of Advanced Education. Between 1977 and 1979 Cato contributed to the foundation of Photography Studies College and also lectured there until becoming 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.[2][8]

Many of Cato's past students have gone on to hold well regarded positions in the photography, art and education fields. Amongst Cato's students was Bill Henson, a well known Australian contemporary art photographer. Cato inspired Henson with his use of musical analogies, which Henson later incorporated in his own work.[2][6][14]

Paul Cox, one of Cato's colleagues at Prahran College of Advanced Education, stated that while the staff of Cato's department were photographers, none of them were qualified teachers. Cox said "Can you imagine that happening today? … At Prahran, teachers and students learnt from each other. It was an exchange."[15]

Cato preferred to use large format cameras for the excellent quality and resolution that they offered. When taking students on camping trips, he insisted they use the same instead of 35mm SLR cameras, which were the 'weapon of choice' at the time, convinced 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.[13][16] 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.[17]

Cato exhibited his work with other photographers in 24 group exhibitions between 1964 and 2003.[8] 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 Bankok, June 27– July 5[18] and showed at Abraxas Gallery, Manuka, in December 1974 with Sue Ford, Les Gray and Mark Strizic.[19] 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.[8]

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."[15]

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.[20]

Nevertheless, Cato was known for being a very humble photographer. He never intended for himself or his work to become famous. In his mind, the work was its own reward. In the 2013 Ballarat International Foto Biennale guide, Cato was described as being "underrated" and "far ahead of his time".[13]

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."[15]

Due to the fact he had a strong dislike of publicity, Cato would sometimes publish his work under a pseudonym, characteristically exhibiting his valedictory exhibition as 'Pat and Chris Noone'. Paul Cox said "Ego is always the biggest limitation of an artist, but John had no ego. He was a free man."[15] 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."[21]