Congratulations to Charles Green and his co-author Heather Barker, who have published a new book with Routledge on the history of Australian art from 1962 to 1988.
This book is a portrait of the period when modern art became contemporary art. It explores how and why writers and artists in Australia argued over the idea of a distinctively Australian modern and then postmodern art. The book reflects on why the embrace of Aboriginal art was so late in art museums and in histories of Australian art, arguing that this was because it was not part of a national story dominated by colonial, then neo-colonial dependency.
"When Modern Became Contemporary Art begins with the excellent point that the study of art history has lagged behind artistic practice in contemplating Indigenous art. The book corrects that in the most welcoming way, by bringing hundreds—perhaps thousands—of points of reference, from anthropology, art history, journalism, curating, and the art market, into productive dialogue.”
– Professor James Elkins, E.C. Chadbourne Chair of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago