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Bernard Smith

Bernard Smith

Bernard Smith’s many books included Australian Painting, Antipodean Manifesto, Death of the Artist as Hero, Imagining the Pacific, and The Boy Adeodatus.

Bernard Smith reviews 'A Dream of Islands: Voyages of self-discovery in the south seas: John Williams, Herman Melville, Walter Murray Gibson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Paul Gaugin' by Gavan Daws

October 1980, no. 25 01 October 1980
What effect did life, does life still, exert upon Europeans in the Pacific? Does it weaken cultural bonds with Europe or does it sustain them? Does it set up alternative cultural standards by means of which European culture may be more critically assessed’) And individuals may more critically assess their own motivations? Are their lives fulfilled in the Pacific or does it destroy them’? These ... (read more)

Bernard Smith reviews 'Heritage: The national women’s art book' edited by Joan Kerr

May 1995, no. 170 01 May 1995
This is nothing less than a magisterial achievement. Joan Kerr and her collaborators (some 128 women and forty-eight men) have documented ‘500 works by 500 Australian Women Artists from Colonial Times to 1955’ to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of International Women’s Year. Simultaneously with its publication exhibitions of Australian women’s art are being held at 127 venues throughou ... (read more)

Bernard Smith reviews 'The Solitary Watcher: Rick Amor and his art' by Gary Catalano

September 2001, no. 234 01 September 2001
This is one of the most satisfying and fascinating monographs on an Australian artist that I have read. Only Franz Philipp’s monograph on Arthur Boyd can be compared to it, and for quite other reasons. Catalano, lucidly and meticulously, unravels the complex physical and intellectual life of Rick Amor from the time of his boyhood. He discloses how Amor’s paintings depend on his ability to make ... (read more)

Bernard Smith reviews 'Victorian Icon: The Royal Exhibition Building' by David Dunstan et al.

July 1996, no. 182 01 July 1996
As the one hundred and sixteen years of their control of the Exhibition Building ends, its Trustees have prepared this splendid account of their stewardship. From diverse perspectives David Dunstan, who teaches public history at Monash University, and fifteen associates, demonstrate how deeply the building has entered into the everyday lives of Victorians. Dunstan begins by noting that: Two hun ... (read more)