Personal profile

Biography

Dr Luke Smythe is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.  Prior to commencing at Monash, he taught art history at Otago University and Wesleyan University.  From 2013-2014, he worked as a Curatorial Fellow in Postwar Art at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

His historical specialty is modern art from the postwar period until today with at present a particular focus on three subjects: West German art, the passage of analogue media into the digital era, and New Zealand modernism. His articles and essays, addressing these and other topics, have appeared in many journals and catalogues, among which are OctoberModernism/modernity, the Art Journal (U.S.), and Oxford Art Journal.  He is the author of two monographs: Gerhard Richter. Freedom and Individualism in West Germany (Routledge, 2022), and Gretchen Albrecht: Between Gesture and Geometry (Massey University Press, 2019, revised and expanded 2nd edition, 2023).

In addition to his research and writing, he has worked on exhibitions at a number of museums and galleries, including the Chinati Foundation, Yale University Art Gallery and the Pinakothek der Moderne.

His work has been supported by the DAAD, the Fulbright Foundation, the Yale Centre for British Art, the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Creative New Zealand, and the Anna Polke-Stiftung.

Education/Academic qualification

Art History, PhD, Gerhard Richter: Lightness and Loss, Yale University

Award Date: 12 Jun 2012

Curatorial Studies, MA, Len Lye: The Vital Body of Cinema, Columbia University

Award Date: 8 Feb 2006

Research area keywords

  • Modern and contemporary art