Bernard Smith, cold warrior

This paper is a post-print of an article published in Thesis Eleven 82(1) 20053:38-53. The definitive version is available at http://the.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/82/1/38Bernard Smith’s canonical book, Australian Painting 1788–1960, was shaped by the Cold War, and this forced the emerging discipline of Australian art history onto a trajectory that would not be shaken for another two decades. More than art history determined Smith’s innovations. This paper proceeds from that obvious but easily overlooked point, that Smith and his book were deeply conditioned by the intellectual climate of Cold War Australia. The appearance of Smith’s book and, henceforth, Australian art history’s concerns with postcoloniality and anxiety about nationality derive from this. Smith’s particular Cold War shaped Australian art history ever since