Title

Scratching around the edges.

Author

Butler, Roger

Publication date

29 September 2019

Type

Conference paper

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Scratching around the edges. Roger Butler AM, Senior Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Australia. In his Printed series—Printed images in colonial Australia 1801—1901 and Printed images by Australian artists 1885–1955—Roger Butler has provided the definitive history of Australian printmaking. His forthcoming third and final volume in the series takes as its subject postwar printmaking, one of the most vibrant moments in Australian art history. Butler challenges received histories that centre Melbourne, and to a lesser degree Sydney, by articulating the wider context of printmaking across Australia. Printed details a complex and sophisticated art history that can truly be said to present a national summary. Nonetheless, Butler’s history also concerns itself with the limits of such a ‘national history’, illustrating the porous borders of Australian printmaking. His new volume examines the intense traffic between Australian artists and global printmaking networks after World War II. [Conference Program]