The Example of Australia

Abstract

These four recent publications all address some aspect of visual culture in Australia: its history, cultural roots, contemporary manifestations, and to varying degrees examine the legacy of European (primarily British) culture in a new environment. Two represent the fruits of new methodologies that cross ethnic or national boundaries, and one is a source book that will potentially facilitate study of the British diaspora. Taken together, they make a case for Australia as a model for new approaches to world cultures. Even Christopher Allen's book which is disappointing in many ways, signals the fact that Australian art is now recognized as a distinct entity within the 'World of Art'. It has entered into a more global debate, not specific to Australia alone, nor targeted for consumption solely by Australian audiences. Of the four books surveyed here, Christopher Allen's Art in Australia: from Colonization to Postmodernism fails to deliver anything new. As a recent addition to the Thames and Hudson World of Art series, it promised to put before a general audience the latest development in this area of art scholarship written by an author of longstanding reputation or new and fresh talent. Allen, a Sydneybased writer and critic for the past ten years belongs to the second category. Taking into consideration the restrictions imposed by the concise format, his could not rival the more comprehensive surveys of his predecessors William Moore (Story of Australian Art, 1934), H. E. Badham (Study of Australian Art, 1949), Bernard Smith (Place, Taste and Tradition, 1945 and Australian Painting, first published in 1962 with subsequent editions 1971, and with Terry Smith in 1991), and Robert Hughes (The Art of Australia, 1966, 1970 rev. edn.). One could, however, expect it to signal the main debates in which the Australian art world is currently engaged. Unfortunately, Allen's conventional progressive narrative which clings tenaciously to the theme of 'effectively inhabiting this place', does little towards achieving this. With each chapter heading duly indicating the course of habitation: Colonization, Settlement, Unsettlement, The Uninhabitable, Escape Routes and Homeless, the theme proves too restrictive and introspective in its focus. The story pivots around the Heidelberg School ('the first painters to achieve an unambiguous sense of home', p. 13), leaving out significant artists