A short history of Australian art

Abstract

"Long before the British invaded Australia in 1788, first peoples' art traditions flourished for thousands of generations. Their art shaped the continent as we know it today and the societies that thrived here; but it was not regarded as 'fine art' by the settlers until the late 1980s. 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art celebrates the longevity and brilliance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art."--Back cover.

Contents

Foreword / Professor Barry Judd -- Foreword / Charlotte Day -- 65,000 Years: a short history of Australian art / Marcia Langton -- Invention and resistance to atrocity: the arthistory unique to the Australian continent / Judith Ryan -- Turn to the river / Coby Edgar -- The Great Southern Peninsula. Djaara's yarn on 65,000 years / Rodney Carter -- A canvas of silence: picturing Aborigines in the settler colony / Greg Lehman -- Cross-cultural connections: Johnny Dawson, Eugene von Guérard and Robert Dowling / Ruth Pullin -- First encounter and Frontier Wars. A matter of perspective: nineteenth-century artists from eastern Australia / Carol Cooper -- Portraits of First People in early New South Wales / Alisa Bunbury -- Mining the archive: Gordon Bennett, Brook Andrew, Christopher Pease / Ian McLean -- Scientific racism. Scientific racism at the University of Melbourne / Ross L. Jones -- The dark heart / Jessica Clark -- Art of Arnhem Land. Bim nakumukken (the big picture): timeless artistry and Country / Eve Chaloupka -- From Arnhem Land to the world: legacy collection and contemporary arts from Yolŋu land and sea country / Jessica de Largy Healy and Michael Muŋgula Gaykamaŋu -- Dhulmu-mulka bathi: the significance of sacred baskets in Yolŋu law / Aaron Corn with Brian Djangirrawuy Gumbula-Garawirrtja -- Art of Groote Eylandt. Revisiting the 1973 Groote Eylandt exhibition / Grazia Gunn -- Art of the Central and Western Deserts. Innovation in Ntaria: Albert Namatjira and beyond / Shanysa McConville -- Pupunya Tula Artists: painting, turlku, corroboree, story / Fred Myers -- Art of the Kimberley. Eulogies in ochre: art of the Kimberley / Stephen Gilchrist -- Winds of change: fragments of Jirrawun art history / Arnaud Morvan -- Resistance and innovation. Art and activism / Hannah Presley -- From landscape to landrelation / Tristen Harwood -- Cultural astronomy. Kulba yadail/Kikem kerker miratager (stories of long ago) / Leitha Assan -- The art of star knowledge / Duane Hamacher -- Contributors -- Index.