AustLit

'Bernard Smith began life as a ward of the State; he would go on to become the father of Australian art history. In 2008 Smith invited writer and art historian Dr Sheridan Palmer to write his biography. Through years of interviews and exclusive access to Smith’s papers and library, Palmer reveals the unique character of an exceptional man.' (Publication summary)

'It has been widely asserted that Bernard Smith established the discipline of art history in Australia. He was the founding professor of contemporary art and the directory of the Power Institute at the University of Sydney, published the classic art text Australian Painting, three volumes on the art of Captain Cook’s voyages, and two memoirs. His work was seminal for histories of Pacific encounter and he also authored some of the country’s most eloquent memoirs. This publication brings together international academics from a range of disciplines to focus on everything Bernard Smith left his mark on: Antipodean and European ‘envisioning’ of the Pacific, the definition of Australian art, gallery scholarship and public art education, museological practice, art criticism, Australian art biography and local heritage.' (Publication summary)

'This is the first anthology to chronicle the global critical reception of Aboriginal art since the early 1980s, when the art world began to understand it as contemporary art. Featuring 96 authors—including art critics and historians, curators, art centre co-ordinators and managers, artists, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers and novelists—it conveys a diversity of thinking and approaches. Together with editor Ian McLean’s important introductory essay and epilogue, the anthology argues for a re-evaluation of Aboriginal art’s critical intervention into contemporary art since its seduction of the art world a quarter-century ago.' (Source: Publisher's website)