MONTE LUKE
1885-1962
Charles
Montague Luke was born in Victoria, the son of a well known press
photographer, E. T. Luke. Monte Luke was first
employed as
a messenger for Baker & Rouse, photographic suppliers, but,
from 1907, worked as an actor until appointed as official still
and movie
cameraman for the theatrical firm J. C. Williamson’s.
Around
1919 Luke went into partnership with the Falk studio in the
Strand before setting up his own studio in the same building
in L.
W. Appleby’s old studio. Luke’s studio specialised
in weddings and social portraits but also gained a reputation
for smart
advertising work.
Luke
joined the Sydney Camera Circle in 1921 and meetings were henceforth
held in his studio until at least
the late 1930s.
Luke
was a prolific exhibitor, known for dramatic portrait studies but
delicate landscapes. A selection of thirty-seven
of Luke’s
dramatic landscapes was published in the 1930s entitled Under
Sunny Skies (n.d.) of which only one copy (in the National
Library of Australia)
is known. However, only a small number of his many exhibition
prints have survived.