Against provincialism: Australian-American connections 1900–2000

Abstract

This article offers an analysis and critique of Terry Smith's well-known essay “The Provincialism Problem”. Against Smith's argument for the “subservience” of Australian art vis-a-vis American, we sketch a long history of Australian-American artistic interaction throughout the twentieth century, and indeed the involvement of many highly-placed Australian artists in American art. We suggest that from a “contemporary” perspective not only does a whole new history of Australian art come into view but we can see that the “provincialism problem” never existed.