In the late nineteenth century, the Sydney barrister and critic, William Bede Dalley is reported to have said: ‘I enjoy literature in all its manifestations. But if there is one class of books I prefer to another, I think it must be’ – with a flash of his teeth – ‘why, New Books!’
It is possible to greet with equal enthusiasm however, the republication of an ‘old book’, especially ... (read more)
Leigh Astbury
Leigh Astbury is an Australian art historian and author of City Bushmen: The Heidelberg School and the rural mythology (1985).
Influence spotting is one of the major preoccupations of traditional art history. Important and necessary though the practice may be, I sometimes suspect that it is employed to keep art history the preserve of the specialist and to deny access to the general reader. How refreshing, then, to be confronted with a scholarly Australian art history book that explores the artists’ subject matter and i ... (read more)