Australian Art Histories: Four-Week Course

This course covers a broad overview of art on this continent up until the late twentieth-century.

From rich histories of travel and cultural trade that existed prior to British colonisation, to the early decades of colonialism – participants will examine the arrival of professional painters such as John Glover and Conrad Martens and the impact of the discovery of gold on the Australian artistic landscape.

Participants will engage with ideas about the ways that artists responded to the specific social context in Australia, as well as how international art movements impacted Australian artists, both here and abroad. Sessions will provide opportunities to closely study leading figures such as Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin and Clara Southern, as well as those pioneering the movement of Modernism in Australia, including Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington-Smith and Grace Crowley.

Unpack the contribution of Australian artists to the Surrealist movement, as well as the passionate debate over abstract and figurative art that ensued in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s with artists responding to international stylistic movements such as colour field and hard-edge abstraction.

Attention will also be paid to First Nations artists in the 1960s such as Walter Tjampitjinpa and Mick Wallangkarri Tjakamarra, whose intimate and expansive knowledge of Country and attunement to the rapidly shifting art market across Australia gave way to internationally acclaimed art movements such as the Hermannsburg Watercolours and the Papunya Tula.

This course will run on Thursday evenings from 12 June – 3 July, 6–8pm.

The course will include curator-led talks and tours introducing key ideas, themes, and works in Australian art with a focus on the NGV’s Collection of First Nations and Australian art. These sessions will be complemented by educator-led group discussions and activities, including different approaches to analysing and interpreting works of art, that will provide opportunity for participants to actively engage with the ideas explored in the course.

Sessions are held in the NGV’s learning spaces and galleries and take place after-hours to provide an exclusive and intimate learning experience.

No prior knowledge or experience is required.

A prescribed reading and resources list will be provided to course participants as part of the course materials, providing links to a curated selection of books, articles and videos to extend your learning.

$370 Members / $400 Non-Member / $385 Concession, Student & Educator
+ $5.50 Booking Fee

Enrolment includes access to all four weeks of the course, with all course materials provided. A prescribed reading and resources list will be provided to course participants as part of the course materials, providing links to a curated selection of books, articles and videos to extend your learning.

Sophie Gerhard is Curator of Australian and First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She has curated significant exhibitions, most recently Watercolour Country: 100 Works from Hermannsburg (2023) and the forthcoming MOTHER (2026). A PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, her research focuses on the role of shame in Australian and First Nations art history.

Michael Gentle is Curator, Australian and First Nations art at the National Gallery fo Victoria. He is a Noongar man with Ancestral connections to Minang Country and English convicts. His research and curation explores national identities, constructions of the environment and the ‘Indigenization’ of the nation state. He has contributed to publications such as Artlink and MEMO Review, teasing out topics relating to eco-critical and queer art histories. Michael was awarded the 2025 Australia-at-Large Rhodes Scholarship for Oxford University, where he will continue his research in Australian and First Nations art. Presently, he is co-curating a Margaret Preston retrospective, scheduled to open late 2026.

Beckett Rozentals is Curator of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria. She completed her Master of Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne in 2009 and commenced working at the NGV the same year. Beckett has curated numerous major exhibitions including The Field Revisited (2018), Found and Gathered: Rosalie Gascoigne | Lorraine Connelly-Northey (2021) and Grace Crowley & Ralph Balson (2024). She is currently co-curating a Margaret Preston retrospective, scheduled to open in 2026.

Sophie Prince is curatorial project officer, Australian and First Nations art at the National Gallery fo Victoria. During her time at the NGV she has co-curated My Country: Country Road + NGV First Nations (2023) Commissions and REKOSPECTIVE: The Art of Reko Rennie (2024). Her academic background is focused on research and applied methodologies for working with contemporary artists and art cross-culturally, which is a framework she continues to enrich and apply daily through her work. Prior to working at NGV, Sophie was in the lead editorial and management team at VAULT Magazine and Art Ink, and has over ten years experience working in the arts sector.

David Menzies is a Senior Educator at the National Gallery of Victoria, with over thirty years of experience in teaching and learning, both at the NGV and in schools. He believes in the transformative power of art and its ability to bring culture, history, and the world to life for students of all ages.

Australian Art Histories: Four-Week Course offers an inspiring and creative professional learning opportunity for teachers of all levels and subjects. This Four-Week Course meets the following AITSL standards:

A certificate of professional learning is available on request.