The 1970s: Curators Framing the AvantGarde in Writing and Rewriting Art History

The 1970s was a time when previous cultural restrictions on middle-class Australia were lifted, and the country saw a transition to a raft of ‘alternative’ agendas. The vast majority of those working in the visual arts, especially contemporary art, were swept up in these changes. This was the decade that saw the first of the baby-boomer generation come to maturity. High expectations were placed on this generation of children by parents who had experienced World War II, either as combatants or as suffering civilians. New professional standards began to be seen as the norm in many fields in Australia, including in art museums. In all of this, politics played its part. After the election of the Whitlam Government in December 1972, increased funding for the arts combined with a restructured Australian Council for the Arts, enabled curators to think on a larger scale, while the rise of second- wave feminism encouraged a critical assessment of all exhibitions and their potential to reinforce the patriarchy. Generous Australia Council support enabled many smaller institutions to see their exhibitions as part of global trend.This paper looks at how key curators in the three major state art galleries—the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide (AGSA); Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney (AGNSW); and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne (NGV)—responded differentially to these changes. In particular, it will examine the landmark Link, Project and Survey series of exhibitions. These are contrasted with related exhibitions mounted by artist-run initiatives and collectives, especially the University of Melbourne Union’s Ewing and George Paton Galleries (Ewing and Paton)