ABSTRACT
The conduct of Australian national galleries between 1860 and 1953 in acquiring British art from the UK played a key role in the formulation of the cultural identity of a community whose relationship with the British empire was subject to considerable change. This study has aimed to map art historical and museological orthodoxies in order to understand how these were formed, and which need to be challenged and revised. The organisation of the material in this book into two major thematic categories – exploring infrastructural issues and artistic genres – allows the similar experiences of the different institutions and their agents to be emphasised. It thus offers an unprecedented overview of the collective actions and motives of the Australian national galleries in their accumulation of British art from the UK.
