Art Museums in Australia: A Personal Retrospect

A survey of, and reflections on, the growth of art museums in Australia based on personal experience and involvement. It starts with the early art collections and state galleries and their organisation. It looks at changing patterns of leadership and governance. It considers the roles of inter-state...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Daniel Thomas
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Department of Art History, University of Birmingham 2011
Subjects:
art
Online Access:http://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/dthistoriogartmus-reedit29may11ref.pdf
https://doaj.org/article/df0cda7f21904c6fa086625558bba921
Description
Summary:A survey of, and reflections on, the growth of art museums in Australia based on personal experience and involvement. It starts with the early art collections and state galleries and their organisation. It looks at changing patterns of leadership and governance. It considers the roles of inter-state competition, the varying patters of organisation and support and the impact of federal institutions. It reflects on factors of race, gender and ethnicity and also the situation of Australian exhibitions and collections in the Global Village. It considers the effects of popularisation, commercialisation and celebrity culture on exhibition practices. It concludes that Australia’s art museums, more perhaps than any others, have become unusually well-suited to a post-European or post-North Atlantic age.