AusBonsai

Hi all,

Max Candy died a few years ago and we who knew him miss him greatly. He was a very creative and inquizative man and dispelled many myths.
Any one got some better photos? He never did any work out of NSW that I know of which is a real pity.

Grant

Bump

I certainly would like to know more about him. Have heard his name come up many times.

I'll put together what I know over time and post it here. I met him in about 1973, when I was still riding my bike to bonsai meetings..

He also did the photography for the Dot and Vita Koreshoff book on tropical bonsai.

It might turn in to a bit of a hagiography; I liked and admired Max very much, but I will give it a go.

Grant

Bump, Hi Grant i know you're busy mate, just keeping you on ya toes.

anttal63 wrote:Bump, Hi Grant i know you're busy mate, just keeping you on ya toes.

Working on it now.

Thanks

Grant,

Noel Summerell mentions Max's name regularly when I chat to him about various bonsai things. I'll ask if he has any photos when I see him next.

Jamie

jamo wrote:Grant,

Noel Summerell mentions Max's name regularly when I chat to him about various bonsai things. I'll ask if he has any photos when I see him next.

Jamie

Thanks Jamie.

I heard you dropped in on the weekend to the NBPCA.

Noel is coming down to Canberra on Saturday so I may see him first. The Illawarra club members might have some photos as well. Jan, Brenda, John, etc Some older ones would be good as well from the 70s and 80s.

I can also ask at the AABC convention which is coming soon.

Grant

I now have a photo of Max with his head looking down at a tree but can't see his face.

He was very elusive when it came to being photographed. It was usually him doing the photography.

However Noel Summerell cam up with an early photo of Maxs' fig in training. I will post it soon.

But I will keep searching for more photos.

Grant

Noel Summerell came down to the native bonsai show on the weekend and had a photo of Max and an early photo of Maxs' PJ Fig in training.
Anyone with a better photo including his face?
He is looking at an Elm that later had the majority of roots chained sawed off flat.
This is a photo taken from the back of the tree and off to one side. I have been able to trace the roots on the living tree and can fix the photo exactly.
It looks like, as I always imagined, that existing aerial roots were pushed against the trunk and then covered with something to keep them in place and encourage them to grow. The photo looks like it has been taken just after the removal of the material and the training of the branches is taking place in earnest. Lots of wire tying down branches.

An interesting glimpse of the tree well into training.

Grant

Nice one Grant! thanks for sharing. Surely there is more on this man out there???

anttal63 wrote:Nice one Grant! thanks for sharing. Surely there is more on this man out there???

I hope so.

I will approach his familly if we can't get a "Bonsai" photo of him.

I am back working on what I know of him right now Ant.

Grant

Grant, a great writing on Max over in the other thread! I found myself attracted to this mans story, a strong gut feeling that i couldn't put my finger on. Now after reading your story i know why. He is a true Australian bonsai heroe. A real innovater. I really relate to this guy and wished i had of met him. If anyone knows Jack, try to get him on here! I look forward to reading and hearing more about him. Great job for starting this Grant!

Maxs contemporary fellow artists were

Tom Coogan,
George Stockton,
All Koreshoffs but particularly Dot and Deborah,
Many of the Sydney Vietnamese community, Thien, Vanson and one other whose name I forget. He was a hero to the Vietnamese as well as he helped them endlessly(although he was accent blind and could hardly understand what was being said and often asked(in his late 60s and 70s) me to help him understand.
One of the Vietnamese guys looked in on Max often in his last days and actually found Max dead at home, called the police etc.

Brenda, Jan, Ross, and all the usual older suspects in the Western Suburbs group, Bonsai Society of Australia, School of Bonsai and Illawarra Bonsai.

The list goes on and I hope others can add to it.

I would like to particularly single out Noel and Judy Summerel. They probably saw the most of Max over the latter years.

Noel and Max greatly enlarged the knowledge of Figs both togehter and separately. Noel had a bottom heat system that Max would use and so he was often over there. He would pot a fig then unpot it one, two or three weeks later to see what the roots were doing. He used Perlite as a medium for experimentation with the figs as well.

Grant

GOLD!!!