The Abbey Art Centre: Reassessing postwar Australian art, 1946–1956

In fully documenting Australian artists who worked at the Abbey Arts Centre, London, 1946-56, and the British and European avant-garde in which they mixed, this DP throws light on this historically neglected art colony and recasts conventional understandings of post-WW2 Australian artists’s role in the European postwar period. At a time when this period is being extensively revised within a postcolonial frame, this DP is a timely contribution to current art historiography that will add significance to Australian art, especially within global institutional contexts. Outcomes include a state gallery exhibition, monograph and catalogue for retail, and potential additions of artworks and archives to national collections.