School of Culture and Communication

Research interests

20th century art (Italian modernism and post-WWII American art), art and politics, art and mental illness.

Qualifications

BBus (Swin), BA Hons, MA (UniMelb), PhD (Harvard)

Biography

Dr Anthony White is a graduate of Harvard University, The University of Melbourne and Swinburne University. He conducts research in Italian modernism, American postwar art, and the relationship between art and mental illness. He also teaches and supervises research into the history of European, American and Australian modern art. Among his major publications are Lucio Fontana: Between Utopia and Kitsch, published in 2011 by MIT Press, and several articles in peer-reviewed journals includingOctober,Grey Room,Reading Room,EMAJandThe Journal of Art Theory and Practice. From 2004-6 he was a co-editor ofThe Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, the journal of record for art history in Australasia, and from 2005 – 7 he was on the editorial board ofPapers of Surrealism.

Alongside his research and teaching activities, he has also worked as an exhibition curator. After working at Harvard University's Fogg Museum in Cambridge, from 2000 - 2002 he was Curator of International Painting and Sculpture at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra where he curated several major exhibitions of American art includingFrida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism(2001),Sol LeWitt: Drawings, Prints and Books(2002) andJackson Pollock's Blue Poles(2002). In 2008 he co-curatedThe Art of Making Senseat the Cunningham Dax Collection in Parkville, Australia.

In 2005 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Humanities Research Centre at The Australian National University, in Canberra, Australia and in 2006 was appointed Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. He has been the recipient of many scholarships, awards and grants, including a 1992 Australian Postgraduate Research Award, a Mellon Fellowship for Dissertation Research in 1995, a University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Award in 2004 and an Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant for 2007 - 2009. He gives frequent public lectures and is a regular guest on national radio arts programs.

Employment History

Senior Lecturer, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne, 2009 -

Lecturer, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne, 2003 - 2009

Curator, International Painting and Sculpture, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2000 - 2002.

Exhibition Curator, Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 2000.

Tutorial Instructor, Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, Harvard University, 1999.

Head Teaching Fellow, Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, Harvard University, 1996.

Teaching Fellow, Department of the History of Art and Archaeology, Harvard University, 1994.

Sessional Tutor, Department of Fine Arts, The University of Melbourne, 1991.

Publications

Books

• Lucio Fontana: Between Avant-Garde and Kitsch. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., (2011)

Edited Books

• Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2002)
• Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2001)

Book chapters

• 'Foreign Natives: Australian Modernism 1915-1955,'The Cambridge Companion to Australian Art, Cambridge University Press (2011)
• 'Gustave Courbet';'Claude Monet', The Triumph of Landscape, exh. cat., Canberra, The National Gallery of Australia, (2008), pp. 192-3, 200-1.
• 'Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles.'Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles. ed. A. White, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: pp. 13 - 39 (2002)
• 'They Are Vying for Shreds of Her Garments';'Jacques and Natasha';'My Mother, Myself and the Universe.'Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. ed A. White, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: pp. 13 - 16, 20 - 28 (2001)

Refereed Journal articles

• 'Up the Street: Mario Radice and Cesare Cattaneo's Camerlata Fountain 1935 – 2010'The Journal of Art Theory and Practice 10 (2010): pp. 7 – 22.
• 'The Trouble with Twins: Image and Ritual of the Yoruba ère ìbejì'EMAJ 5 (2010): pp. 1 – 22.
• 'Wastage of Effect: Newness, Expendability and Memory in 1960s Art,'Reading Room 3 (2009): pp. 120 – 136.
• 'TV or not TV: Lucio Fontana's "Luminous Images in Movement"'Grey Room 34 (2009): pp. 6-27.
• 'Art Beyond the Globe: Lucio Fontana's Spatial Identity'EMAJ 3 (2008): pp. 1-13.
• 'Industrial Painting's Utopias: Lucio Fontana's "Expectations"'October 124 (2008): pp. 98–124
• 'Gustave Courbet's "The Wave"'Art Bulletin of Victoria 47 (2007): pp. 46–53, 73.
• 'Terra Incognita: Surrealism and the Pacific,'Papers of Surrealism 6 (2007), pp. 1-8
• 'Graeme Doyle, The Cunningham Dax Collection and Surrealist Discourse,'Papers of Surrealism 6 (2007), pp. 1-12
• 'No Form Can Be Spatial: The Origin of Lucio Fontana's Spatial Concept.'Art Bulletin of Victoria 45 (2005): pp. 44-51.
• 'Abstract Art, Ethics and Interpretation: The Case of Mario Radice,'The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art 4, no. 2 (2004): pp. 43–56
• 'Lucio Fontana: Between Utopia and Kitsch.'Grey Room 5 (2001): pp. 54-77.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

• 'Wounded: Lucio Fontana's Wartime Sculpture in Italy and Argentina'in Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration, Convergence - Proceedings of the 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, Melbourne University Press (2009): pp. 734 – 738.
• 'Sequins and Glitter: Fashion, Spectacular Bodies and 20th Century Art'in Proceedings of The Body: Connections with Fashion, IFFTI 2008 - 10th Annual Conference of International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes, Melbourne (2008), pp. 1–14.
• 'Lucio Fontana: The Post-fascist Masculine Figure,'in Proceedings of the Masculinities: Art Gender and Popular Culture Conference, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, (2005), n.p.
• 'Abstract Art and Fascism in Como ,'in Proceedings of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (NSW Chapter) Ethics and Aesthetics Conference, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, (2004), pp. 1-7.

Other Books, Chapters, Articles, Papers and Reviews

• "What is Happening?"in New11 (Southbank: Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 2011)
• Framing Marginalised Art, with Karen Jones, et. al., Custom Book Centre, Parkville (2010).
• 'Avant-Garde Fascism: The Mobilisation of Myth, Art and Culture in France 1909 – 1939'Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide: A Journal of 19th Century Visual Culture 9, no. 1 (2010)
• "Robert Morris 'Untitled'1969";"Richard Serra 'Prop'1968"Soft Sculpture, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia (2009) [on-line catalogue]
• 'Seeing Art by People with Experience of Mental Illness and/or Psychological Trauma: A Multi-Dimensional Framework'in The Art of Making Sense, exh. cat., The Cunningham Dax Collection, Parkville (2008), pp. 3 - 4
• 'Ian Friend: Cryptic Architecture'in Ian Friend: A voice of floating silence, exh. cat., Brisbane: Andrew Baker Art Dealer (2008), n.p.
• The Cunningham Dax Collection: Statement of Significance, with Robson B, Salmon F, Westmore A, Bloch S, Koh E &Fitzpatrick A., The Cunningham Dax Collection, Parkville (2008).
• 'Cut off from the stream'(book review), Australian Book Review 292 (2007), pp. 24-25.
• 'From Kitsch to Space: Lucio Fontana's Ceramics and the Spatial Environment'Billedkunst vol. 15, no. 3 (2007), pp. 15–21.
• 'Art and Mental Illness, An Art Historical Perspective,'in Art and Mental Illness: Myths, Stereotypes and Realities. Neami Splash Art (2007), pp. 24-29
• '"Have Mary Janes Gone Up?"Participation and Disaffiliation in Oldenburg's "The Store"', Proceedings of the Art Assocation of Australia and New Zealand (NSW Chapter) Conference 'Art and the Real: Documentary, Ethnography, Enactment,'Sydney, (2007), pp. 1-6
• 'Beyond Van Gogh: Art, Art History and Mental Illness.'For Matthew: Journeys with Schizophrenia. Sydney: University of New South Wales: pp. 45 -51 (2006)
• 'The Art of Enigma: The De Chirico Brothers and the Politics of Modernism'(book review) Papers of Surrealism 4 (2006)
• 'Modernism and Fascism: Italian Abstract Art in the 1930s and 1940s,'Center 26: Record of Activities and Research Reports (2006): pp. 161–163
• 'The Artist and Mental Illness: An Art Historical Perspective.'in The Cunningham Dax Collection and The Artists of Neami Splash Art Studio, exh. cat., Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Bundoora, (2005), pp. 2 – 4.
• 'Frank Stella, "Flin Flon"1970', Developing the Collection: Acquisitions 2001 – 2004, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2004, p. 60.
• 'The Movement that Rocked Art: Their Place in History', Gallery 3 (2004): pp. 20–22.
• 'Technique and Memory.'in Lyndell Brown Charles Green, exh. cat., ARC One Gallery, Melbourne (2003), n.p.
• 'Art Metropolis: A New Installation of International Art.'Artonview 32 (2002): pp. 18-22
• 'Before Blue Poles'Artonview 31 (2002) pp. 14-6
• 'Sol LeWitt: Drawings, Prints and Books 1968 - 1988,'Artonview 30 (2002): pp. 33-39.
• 'After Blue Poles,'Artonview 27 (2001) pp. 46-47.
• 'Yan Pei Ming, "Autoportrait (Mars)"2000';'Antoni Tapies "Materia ratllada"2000'in Developing the Collection: Acquisitions 1999 – 2001 Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2001, pp. 34, 42.
• 'Magic Realism: Mexican Women Artists in the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection'Artonview 26 (2001): pp. 4-10.
• 'Agnes Martin: On the Empty Beach,'Artonview 24 (2001) pp. 42-44
• 'Aboriginal Art: Sacred and Profane'. Art Journal 59:4 (2000): pp. 105-107

Guest Lectures and Conference Presentations

• [with Mark Nicholls] "Post War Recovery, and Cosmopolitanism in Visual Cultures: Italy 1943-1964", The World and World-Making in Art: Connectivities and Differences, Humanities Research Centre, The Australian National University, 11 – 13 August 2011.
• [with Mark Nicholls] "Post War Recovery, Security and the Cultural Settlement: Italy 1943-1964", Italian Studies-New Directions, ACIS Sixth Biennial Conference, The University of Melbourne, 2011
• "Labour, Technology and Memory in Contemporary American and Australian Art,"Invited Guest Speaker, College of Fine Arts, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, South Korea.
• "Up the Street: Mario Radice and Cesare Cattaneo's Camerlata Fountain 1936 – 2010"Art on the Street, International Conference – The Korean Society of Art Theories, Seoul, South Korea, 2010
• 'Marie Hagerty's Peter Karmel Building Facade, Canberra School of Music', Interspaces: Art and Architectural Exchanges from East to West, The University of Melbourne, 2010
• "The Art of Revolution: 19th Century French painting,"Public Lecture, National Gallery of Victoria, 2010
• 'Hybrid Cubism: de Maistre, Crowley and Fairweather,'New Perspectives on Cubism &Australian Art Forum, Heide Museum of Modern Art &University of Melbourne, 2010
• "Reconstructing fascism: Abstract Art and Architecture in Como,"Art History Lecture, British School at Rome, 2009
• 'Reconstructing Fascism: Abstract Art and Architecture in Como,'Research Seminar, Department of Fine Arts, School of Humanities, The University of Hong Kong, 2009
• 'Futurism,'Guest Lecture, Latrobe University, Melbourne, 2009
• 'Soft Sculpture,'Sculpture: Old and New, Soft and Hard, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2009
• 'The Lessons of the Impressionists', Masterclass session [with Mark Pennings], Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008
• 'Making Sense'Public Forum [with Karen Jones and Nurin Veis], The Cunningham Dax Collection, Parkville, 2008
• 'Architecture and Abstract Art', Public Lecture, Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, 2008.
• 'Between Constructivism and Costume Jewellry: Lucio Fontana's Kitsch Ceramics and the Spatial Environment,'AAANZ Annual Conference, Brisbane, December 2008
• 'Space Anguish: Lucio Fontana's Sci-Fi Nightmare,'Global Arts Local Knowledge: International Association for Philosophy and Literature Conference, Melbourne, July 2008
• 'Beyond the Margins: Contexts and Complexities Around the Collection and Display of Outsider Art', Panel Discussion, Monash University Museum of Art, 2008
• 'Conversation - An Evening with Oluce President, Antonio Verderi', Euroluce Melbourne Gallery, 2007.
• '"The End of God"Lucio Fontana and Technological Modernity in the 1960s,'The Australasian Center for Italian Studies Fourth Biennial Conference, Griffith University, Brisbane, 10 - 13 July 2007
• 'Post-war Perspective,'Guggenheim Collection 1940s to Now Symposium National Gallery of Victoria 30 June 2007
• 'Re-enacting fascist art: Mario Radice's murals in the Casa del Fascio,'Art and Reenactment Conference, Research School of Humanities, Australian National University, Canberra, 5-7 June 2007
• 'French Impressionism - Development and Transformation'Public Lecture, National Gallery of Victoria, 2007
• 'Killing the Father: Picasso's Legacy, Guest Lecture, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006
• 'Abstract Art and Fascism in Italy,'Art Association of Australia and New Zealand annual conference, December 2006, Monash University.
• 'Beyond Van Gogh,'For Matthew: Journeys with Schizophrenia Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 5-6 October, 2006
• 'The Cunningham Dax Collection and Surrealist Discourse'Terra Incognita: Surrealism, Psychoanalysis and Sexuality Symposium, The University of Melbourne, September 1-2, 2006
• '"The End of God:"Lucio Fontana and Technological Modernity in the 1960s.'Research Seminar, The AHRC Research Centre for Studies of Surrealism and its Legacies, Manchester University, UK, 28th March, 2006
• 'From Kitsch to Space: Lucio Fontana's Ceramics and the Spatial Environment,'College Art Association 94th Annual Conference, Boston, USA, February 22 - 25, 2006
• 'Art and Cultural Negotiation: Anangu and Charles Mountford,'Work in Progress Seminar, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 25th November, 2005.
• 'Illustrations of Madness: James Tilly Matthews and the Influencing Machine,'Art &Mental Health Forum, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, May 14, 2005
• 'Modernism, Fascism and Kitsch: Lucio Fontana.'Association of Art Historians Conference, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, 31 March - 2 April, 2005
• 'Jackson Pollock,'Public Lecture, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square, 2004
• 'The 19th Century Avant-Garde in Painting,'Public Lecture, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square, 2004
• 'Courbet's Amphibologie and the Spectacle of Landscape,'Invited Guest Speaker - Keynote Address, 2003: Situations of Culture and Theory, Queensland Art Gallery Tertiary Forum, Brisbane, September 12, 2003
• 'Technology and Vulnerability: Ari Purhonen and Ian Howard,'Public Lecture, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, 2003
• 'Pierre Bonnard: Beneath the Surface,'Public Lecture, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, 2003
• 'Sol LeWitt: Irrational Logic,'Art Forum Lecture, School of Art National Institute of the Arts, Australian National University, Canberra, 2002.
• 'Lucio Fontana: Form into Space.'Art Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 1 December 2000.
• 'Art Historical Discourse and Western Desert Painting', Art Association of Australia Annual Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, 1991

Teaching

• Modern Art: The Politics of the New: An introduction to 20th century European, American and Australian art
• Art and Revolution: 19th Century Europe: A subject covering the history of nineteenth century European art from late 18th century to late 19th century.
• Avant-Garde and Postmodern Art: A subject examining the history of oppositional art from late 19th century to 1990.
• Futurism and Fascist Art in Italy: A subject which investigates the history of Futurism and Fascist Art in Italy 1909 - 1939
• Europe after the Rain: Post War Art: A subject which examines the impact of WWII and post-war reconstruction on the European avant-garde.
• Art History in the World: A capstone subject which allows student to reflect on the discipline of art history and see its application in the world beyond the academy

Principal PhD Research Supervisions

• Roberta Crisci, "Edgar Degas"[completed]
• Robyn Dold, "Guy Stuart, Paul Partos and Nigel Lendon"
• Justine Grace, "Religion in Italian 20th Century Art"
• Jacky Healy, "The Art Market and Australian Aboriginal Art"[completed]
• Ryan Johnston, "Eduardo Paolozzi"
• Grace McQuilten, "Misdesign – Crossovers between Art and Design"[completed]
• Carina Nandlal, "Pablo Picasso and Stravinsky"
• Judy Rozner "Monograph of the Life and Works of Alberto Burri"
• Veronica Tello, "Countermemorials: Contemporary Art and Refugee Experiences"

Curatorial Work

• 'The Art of Making Sense;(co-curated with Eugen Koh) The Cunningham Dax Collection, Parkville (2008)
• 'Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles,'National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2002)
• 'Sol LeWitt: Drawings, Prints and Books, 1968 - 1988,'(co-curated with Steven Tonkin) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2002)
• 'Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection,'National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2001)

Grants, Awards and Fellowships

• Faculty Conference Support Scheme, The University of Melbourne, 2009
• Cultural and Community Relations Committee Grants, University of Melbourne, 2009, 2005
• Publication Subsidy Grants, University of Melbourne, 2009, 2005, 2004
• Australia Research Council Linkage Grant 'Framing Marginal Art'with Cunningham Dax Collection, Museum Victoria and The Mental Health Foundation, 2007 – 2009.
• ARC Linkage Preparation Grant, University of Melbourne, 2006
• Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 2006
• Special Studies Program (Long), University of Melbourne, 2009, 2006
• Collaborative Research Grant, University of Melbourne, 2005
• Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 2005
• Early Career Researcher Award, University of Melbourne, 2004
• Harvard University Graduate Student Council Research Grant, 1999.
• Mellon Fellowship for Dissertation Completion, 1997 – 1998.
• Charles Eliot Norton Travelling Fellowship, 1996.
• Mellon Fellowship for Dissertation Research, 1995.
• Mellon Fellowship for Summer Language Study/Summer Research, 1995.
• Australian Postgraduate Research Award, 1992.
• Australian Higher Education Scheme Postgraduate Scholarship, 1991.

Membership of Editorial Boards

• co-editor of The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art 2004 – 6
• member of editorial board of Papers of Surrealism, 2005 – 7

Media Articles and Radio Interviews

• Interviewed by Amanda Smith for 'Google Art Project'Artworks, ABC Radio National, March 2, 2011
• 'ISMs: Modernism'Artworks ABC Radio National, broadcast 29 June, 2008
• Interviewed by Geraldine Mellet (about the Citizens Electoral Council's condemnation of Jackson Pollock) on Saturday Breakfast, 720 ABC Perth, broadcast 10 November, 2007.
• Interviewed by Amanda Smith for 'Guggenheim on show'Artworks, ABC Radio National, broadcast 8 July 2007
• Interviewed by Amanda Smith for 'Robert Hughes'The Deep End, ABC Radio National, broadcast 9 November 2006
• Interviewed by Amanda Smith for '1956: Jackson Pollock'The Deep End, ABC Radio National, broadcast 24 September 2006
• Interviewed by Amanda Smith for 'Visual Arts - Nostalgia'The Deep End, ABC Radio National, broadcast 22 November 2005
• 'Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles'Night Club, ABC Radio National, broadcast 30 October 2002.
• 'Frida Kahlo and Mexican Modernism'Arts Today, ABC Radio National, broadcast 26 July 2001
• 'Beneath the Surface of Bonnard's World,'The Age (Melbourne) 1 March, 2003
• 'Brothers Who Open White Eyes,'[with Paul Dunphy] The Age (Melbourne) 14 September, 1991.