Bernard William Smith
Encyclopedia
Bernard William Smith was an Australian art historian, art critic
and academic.
, Sydney
to Charles Smith and Rose Anne Tierney on 3 October 1916. In 1941, he married his first wife, Kate Challis, who died in 1989. Smith married his second wife, Margaret Forster, in 1995.
Smith was educated at the University of Sydney
. Between 1935 and 1944 he taught in the NSW Department of Education
. After that he served as an education officer for the Art Gallery of NSW country art exhibitions programme from 1944. In 1948, he won a scholarship to study at the Warburg
and Courtauld
Institutes, University of London
. On his return to Australia in 1951, Smith returned to his position at the art gallery. In 1952, Smith was awarded a research scholarship at the newly established Australian National University
, where he completed a PhD.
He was a lecturer and then a senior lecturer in the University of Melbourne
's Fine Arts Department (1955–1963). In 1959, he convened a group of seven emerging figurative painters known as the Antipodeans, which organised its only exhibition in August 1959. Between 1963 and 1966, he worked as an art critic for The Age
newspaper, Melbourne
.
In 1967, the Smiths moved to Sydney, where Smith became the founding Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of the Power Institute of Fine Arts
, University of Sydney
, a position he held until his retirement in 1977.
In 1977, the Smiths returned to Melbourne, and Smith became the president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
, until 1980. Later, he was a professorial fellow in the department of Art History at the University of Melbourne
.
Smith was a recipient, Chevalier, of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
.
Art critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...
and academic.
Biography
Smith was born in BalmainBalmain
Balmain can refer to:Places:* Balmain, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia* Electoral district of Balmain, an electoral division in New South Wales, Australia* Balmain East, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to Charles Smith and Rose Anne Tierney on 3 October 1916. In 1941, he married his first wife, Kate Challis, who died in 1989. Smith married his second wife, Margaret Forster, in 1995.
Smith was educated at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. Between 1935 and 1944 he taught in the NSW Department of Education
New South Wales Department of Education and Training
The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsibile for primary schools, secondary schools and Technical and Further Education colleges...
. After that he served as an education officer for the Art Gallery of NSW country art exhibitions programme from 1944. In 1948, he won a scholarship to study at the Warburg
Warburg Institute
The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of the influence of classical antiquity on all aspects of European civilisation.-History:The Institute was founded by...
and Courtauld
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...
Institutes, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. On his return to Australia in 1951, Smith returned to his position at the art gallery. In 1952, Smith was awarded a research scholarship at the newly established Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, where he completed a PhD.
He was a lecturer and then a senior lecturer in the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
's Fine Arts Department (1955–1963). In 1959, he convened a group of seven emerging figurative painters known as the Antipodeans, which organised its only exhibition in August 1959. Between 1963 and 1966, he worked as an art critic for The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
newspaper, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
.
In 1967, the Smiths moved to Sydney, where Smith became the founding Professor of Contemporary Art and Director of the Power Institute of Fine Arts
Power Institute of Fine Arts
The Power Institute of Fine Arts is a teaching and research department, encompassing the fields of art history and theory, within the University of Sydney. Founded in 1968, the institute was established out of a bequest from the expatriate Australian abstract artist John Wardell Power...
, University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, a position he held until his retirement in 1977.
In 1977, the Smiths returned to Melbourne, and Smith became the president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Australian Academy of the Humanities
The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia...
, until 1980. Later, he was a professorial fellow in the department of Art History at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
.
Smith was a recipient, Chevalier, of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
.
Books
- Place, Taste and Tradition: a study of Australian art since 1788 Sydney: Ure Smith, 1945 (reprinted Melbourne: OUP, 1979)
- A Catalogue of Australian Oil Paintings in the National Art Gallery of New South Wales 1875-1952 Sydney: The Gallery, 1953
- European Vision and the South Pacific, 1768-1850: a study in the history of art and ideas Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1960 (reprinted 1985)
- Australian Painting Today: The John Murtagh Macrossan memorial lecture, 1961 St. Lucia, Qld: Queensland University Press, 1962
- Australian Painting, 1788-2000 Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1962 (updated 1971; updated 1991 with Terry Smith; & update 2001 with Christopher Heathcote)
- The Architectural Character of Glebe, Sydney (with Kate Smith), Sydney: University Co-operative Bookshop Press, 1973 (reprinted 1985)
- Concerning Contemporary Art: the Power lectures, 1968-1973 (ed.) Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975
- Documents on Art and Taste in Australia: the colonial period, 1770-1914 (ed.) Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1975
- The Antipodean Manifesto: essays in art and history Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1975
- Art as Information: reflections on the art from Captain Cook's voyages Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1979
- The Spectre of Truganini Sydney: Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1980
- The Boy Adeodatus: the portrait of a lucky young bastard Ringwood, Vic.: Allen Lane, 1984 (reprinted 1985, 1994)
- The Art of Captain Cook's Voyages (with Rüdiger Joppien) Melbourne: Oxford University Press, three volumes, 1985–1987
- The Death of the Artist as Hero: essays in history and culture Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988
- The Art of the First Fleet and Other Early Australian Drawings (eds Bernard Smith and Alwyne Wheeler), Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988
- Baudin in Australian Waters: the artwork of the French voyage of discovery to the southern lands 1800-1804 (eds J. Bonnemains, E. Forsyth and B. Smith) Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988
- Terra Australis: the furthest shore (eds W. Eisler and B. Smith) Sydney: International Cultural Corporation of Australia, 1988
- The Critic as Advocate: selected essays 1941-1988 Melbourne: Oxford University Press Australia, 1989
- Imagining the Pacific in the Wake of the Cook Voyages Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press at the Miegunyah Press, 1992
- Noel Counihan: artist and revolutionary Melbourne; New York: Oxford University Press, 1993
- Poems 1938-1993 Carlton, Vic.: Meanjin, 1996
- Modernism's History: a study in twentieth-century art and ideas New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998
- A Pavane for Another Time Sydney: Macmillan, 2002
- The Formalesque Melbourne: Macmillian, 2007 (forthcoming)
Selected essays and articles
- 'European vision and the south pacific' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 8 (1950) 65-100
- 'Coleridge's Ancient Mariner and Cook's second voyage' Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 19 (1956) 117-152
- 'Modernism and post-modernism: neo-colonial viewpoint—concerning the sources of modernism and post-modernism in the visual arts' Thesis Eleven 38 (1994) 104-117
- 'Modernism, post-modernism and the formalesque', Editions 20 (1994) 9-11
Sources
- International Who's Who London: Europa Publications, 2000
- The writings of Bernard Smith: bibliography 1938-1998 (ed. J. Spencer and P. Wright), Sydney: Power Publications, 2000