Best Book Prize
$500 supported by the Power Institute, Foundation for Art and Visual Culture, The University of Sydney
Susan Lowish, ‘Rethinking Australia’s Art History: The Challenge of Aboriginal Art‘ (New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018)
From the judges: The judges faced an unenviable task of reading ten exceptionally fine, scholarly publications that this year were submitted for the AAANZ Book Prize. After carefully reading all of the publications, and after considerable consultation and applying the six criteria on which the prize is judged, we were unanimous that it should be awarded to Susan Lowish’s ‘Rethinking Australia’s Art History: The Challenge of Aboriginal Art’. Tracing the development of the category of ‘Aboriginal Art’ in the European imagination, Dr Lowish tackles one of the central questions confronting Australian art history and does this with originality and academic integrity. It is a very intelligent publication that is lucid in its expression and accessible to most readers. There is very solid and scrupulous scholarship that lies at the core of this exceptional publication.
Judges: Sasha Grishin and Helen McDonald
Best Anthology Prize
$500 supported by the Power Institute, Foundation for Art and Visual Culture, The University of Sydney
Sean Mallon and Sébastien Gallio, ‘Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing’ (Wellington: Te Papa Press and New South Publishing, 2018)
From the judge: As the entries for this year’s prize attest, many high-quality anthologies were published in our regionduring 2018. This genre of publication, which includes edited, book-length volumes containing several texts composed by different authors, remains central to the scholarship in art history and art –related fields. What this type of publication loses in terms of its singular narrative voice, in comparison to the traditional monograph, it gains through the range and diversity of views represented. It takes many forms, including the heterogeneous collection of essays grouped around a broad topic, as well as more tightly focused studies dealing with a single group of artists or an individual.
Of the entries submitted for this year’s prize, just over half fall into the first of these two categories with the remainder falling into the second. ‘What Is Performance Art? Australian Perspectives’ edited by Adam Geczy and Mimi Kelly; ‘Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing’ edited by Sean Mallon and Sébastien Galliot; ‘Art Features International: Escape Artists Anthology’ edited by Ruth Skilbeck; ‘The Artist As’ edited by Eileen Burns, Johan Lundh and Tara McDowell; and ‘Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945-1990’ edited by Steven H Whiteman, Sarena Abdullah, Yvonne Low and Phoebe Scott are publications which deal with a rich range of material connected to a broad theme. The remaining volumes submitted for the prize, ‘Remembering ARTEMIS: A Western Australian Women’s Art Forum’ edited by Gemma Weston; ‘Antipodean Perspective: Selected Writings of Bernard Smith’, edited by Rex Butler and Sheridan Palmer; ‘Wanted: The Search for the Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor’ edited by Bronwyn Holloway-Smith; and ‘Ian North: Art, Work, Words’ edited by Maria Zagala, are publications concentrating on the work of an individual or group of people. Both categories have equal claim to significance and quality and simply represent different forms of the anthology genre.
It is extremely difficult to select from among this excellent group of publications a single example which stands clearly head and shoulders above the rest. In this respect all of the authors, editors, publishers and designers involved in the production of these texts are to be congratulated for their efforts. Nevertheless, the approach taken here has been to recognise three publications as noteworthy from among the group and to order those as winner, runner-up, and highly commended respectively. In making this assessment, criteria such as scholarly rigour, contribution to knowledge, impact, significance, production quality and clarity of exposition have all been taken into account.
The winner of this year’s anthology prize is ‘Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing’. This fascinating, deeply researched, and beautifully produced volume is the first text in over 100 years to undertake a comprehensive analysis of this important Pacific cultural form. The book is distinguished by its focus on the historical processes of cultural exchange and for its incorporation of multiple Indigenous and other perspectives. Lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed, the publication complements the ground-breaking and currently touring ‘Tatau: Marks of Polynesia’ exhibition and its accompanying catalogue. We learn in great depth from the authors and editors about the extensive history and cultural significance of tattooing from the eighteenth century to the present, taking in everything from the earliest known observations by European colonists to the contemporary appearance of the form in global art and popular culture. The book is a fitting tribute to the power and endurance of this vibrant Samoan cultural practice.
Runner-up:
Stephen H Whiteman, Sarena Abdullah, Yvonne Low and Phoebe Scott (eds.), ‘Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945-1990‘ (University of Sydney: Power Publications and National Gallery Singapore, 2018)
This important collection of essays, which includes several texts from early career researchers, illuminates the rich diversity of practices and experiences characterising Southeast Asian Art in the period roughly contemporary with the Cold War. Closely attentive to the interweaving of discourses of national identity, struggles for political dominance, and the evolving cultural traditions associated with the region, each of the fine essays in this volume pushes the boundaries of existing knowledge about Southeast Asian art and brings a great deal of new material to light. One of the exciting things about this publication is the way in which it exposes relatively little-known art to new audiences and furthers the scholarly development of emerging scholars in an area of great topical and timely interest for the discipline in the twenty-first century.
Highly commended:
Bronwyn Holloway-Smith (ed.), ‘Wanted: The Search for the Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor’ (Auckland: Massey University Press, 2018)
A study of the mural practice of the New Zealand artist E. Mervyn Taylor, this beautifully presented book takes the reader on a journey through the history of this significant New Zealand modernist’s work and through the process of rediscovery of, sometimes, sadly lost or damaged public artworks. Eminently readable, interspersed with gorgeous photographs, and sustained by the narrative of discovery and restoration, this publication reveals the stunning oeuvre of an artist whose special feeling for the demands upon art of public space and for the intercultural history of New Zealand is a revelation for those unfamiliar with the work of this important artist.
In addition to these commendations it is important to acknowledge here the excellent publications: ‘Antipodean Perspective: Selected Writings of Bernard Smith‘, edited by Rex Butler and Sheridan Palmer; and ‘Ian North: Art, Work, Words‘ edited by Maria Zagala. Both volumes, each of which deals with the career of an eminent and influential member of the art history and art-related professions in Australia and New Zealand, are exemplary in their scholarly rigour and documentary value. By outlining, through an intelligent selection of texts and artworks, the extraordinary careers of Bernard Smith and Ian North – the latter a New Zealand-born former President of the AAANZ – these publications have contributed very significant chapters to the intellectual history of our region.
Judge: Anthony White
Best Large Exhibition Catalogue Prize
$500 supported by the University of Melbourne
Cathy Leahy, et al. ‘Escher X nendo ǀ Between Two Worlds’ (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2018)
From the judges: The standard of publications submitted to this year’s category for Best Large Exhibition Catalogue was extremely high, demonstrating excellent design and the breadth of scholarship currently undertaken in galleries and museums across Australia and New Zealand. The catalogue, ‘Escher X nendo ǀ Between Two Worlds’ was a standout in terms of the quality and range of essays and for its exemplary design and production values and is this year’s winner of the category.
The catalogue accompanied the exhibition of prints and drawings of Dutch artist M. C. Escher with the acclaimed Japanese design studio nendo based in Tokyo. By bringing together a bespoke design response to Escher’s prints and drawings, nendo gave physical form to the spatial conundrums explored in the prints and drawings. This brought to the fore understandings of space, the geometric abstraction of space and how space is experienced, effectively confounding the traditional boundaries between art, design and architecture.
A balanced mix of focus essays includes separate analyses of the practice of Escher and the nendo design studio, while other essays consider the synergies between their approaches. Essays by Cathy Leahy, Maria Cristina Didero, Ewan McEoin, DunjaHak, Adam Nash, Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Oki Sato are compelling and authoritatively written, offering sophisticated discussion while maintaining accessibility for a general audience. Included are essays on the curatorial rationale and exhibition design brief. These, together with 3D images of the floorplans and installation images, bring the exhibition to life, enabling readers of the catalogue to gain a better understanding of the experiential dimension of the exhibition.
The production values of the catalogue are outstanding. The catalogue is richly illustrated and the overall design by NGV Senior Graphic Designer, Dirk Hiscock is impressive. It carries through the aesthetic of the exhibition and details such as the slipcase, the binding and different treatments of ‘mise-en-page‘ visually continue the play on the nexus between art, design and architecture. This is a substantial publication that offers fresh perspectives combined with rigour and originality.
Judges: Brian Hubber and Wendy Garden
Best Small Exhibition Catalogue
$500 supported by the University of Western Australia
Darren Jorgensen (ed.) ‘Bush Women’ (Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre, 2018)
and
‘The Field Revisited’ (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2018)
From the judges: Both winners are catalogues for re-staged exhibitions, reflecting perhaps a moment of maturity in Australian art history, as it looks back and reflects on continuities and changes in the past decades of exhibitions and scholarship on Australian art. Both offer scholarly reflection on art history in Australia in the twentieth century, and at the same time participate in contemporary exhibition making.
‘Bush Women’ revisits a 1994 exhibition at the Fremantle Arts Centre – the first exhibition to show the extent of the women’s art movement in Western Australia. The collected essays range from Darren Jorgenson’s scholarly insights into the staging of the exhibition, complemented by John Kean’s detailed recollections and exploration of the conception and staging of the original exhibition. Erin Coates and Sheridan Coleman offer a fascinating view of the curatorial and archival challenges of restaging an exhibition, and interspersed between these essays come the voices of some of the artists themselves, Pantjiti Mary McLean, Daisy Andrews and Paji Honeychild Yankkarr. Together the writing in this catalogue covers many of the groups that are represented within the AAANZ, from research, to curatorial, exhibition history and the voices of artists. The catalogue successfully articulates how groundbreaking this exhibition was and how its restaging allows for a moment of reflection on how things have changed and developed. The catalogue for ‘Bush Women’ offers an ongoing life to this pair of important exhibitions, one in 1994 and the other in 2018. It is beautifully illustrated and written in language that will appeal to a broad audience of researchers, curators and artists.
‘The Field Revisited’ clearly articulates to a wider audience why ‘The Field’, 1968, was, and is, such a seminal exhibition in the history of Australian and International art. The rigorously researched essays by scholars and artists make a profound contribution to knowledge and scholarship in the area. With its inclusion of artists such as Janet Dawson (who was in the original 1968 exhibition), these writings make an original contribution to scholarship. In particular, the essay by Beckett Rozentals discusses how ‘The Field’ was groundbreaking in terms of exhibition design, with silver walls and stunning works featuring primarily emerging artists who had experimented with hard edge abstraction. It was also the first exhibition to open in Roy Grounds’ newly styled NGV which, then director Eric Westbrook, believed should be welcoming to a large range of people. Hence, it marked a dramatic change in direction – declaring that the Australian antipodean, mythic style of painting was no longer dominant.It was also the catalyst for two other exhibitions ‘Fieldworks’, 2002, and ‘Australian Art 1960-1986: Field to Figuration’ in 1987.
The quality of the design and production values of this publication, produced by graphic designer Stuart Geddes with the help of a grant from The Joe White Bequest and the NGV are sumptuous. Picking up on the design of the 1968 exhibition with its silver walls, the artworks reproduced in the catalogue are presented against a silver background. The catalogue also employs a specially commissioned font, a bold type that picks up on a 1960s design aesthetic. Although it could be argued that this publication is not actually a small institutional catalogue, and that it is a little unfair for it to compete with others in the category, ‘The Field Revisited’ remains the most significant and striking catalogue within this year’s entries, and reproduced alongside the original 1968 catalogue, the pair will certainly become a collector’s item.
Highly commended:
Cara Pinchbeck (ed.), ‘Nongirringa Marawili: From My Heart and Mind’ (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2018)
We would like to commend ‘Nongirringa Marawili: From My Heart and Mind’. This catalogue clearly presents this Yolngu artist as an internationally important painter, beautifully articulated in the essay by renowned scholar Henry F.Skerritt.
Judges: Sarah Scott and Katrina Grant
Best scholarly article in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art Prize
$500 supported by the Power Institute, Foundation for Art and Visual Culture, The University of Sydney
Katherine Guinness, ‘Hard at Play: Zaniness and Labour in Contemporary Art’, ‘ANZJA’, 18:1,(2018) 90-107
From the judges: A highly inventive application and extension of an already innovative aesthetic theory, offering a new perspective not only on the works chosen for analysis, but also on the ‘provincialism problem’ as an enduring point of debate within Australian art criticism. The author addresses important political issues of precarity and the commodification of the self/creative labour with compassion and clarity, weaving these diverse issues together in a cohesive and eloquent style that often mimics, to great effect, the qualities of the grotesque, twee and zany identified in the artists discussed.
Judges: Robert Gaston and Alex Burchmore
Best Art Writing by an Indigenous Australian
$500 prize money + $500 for a new writing commission supported by Art Monthly
Hetti Perkins, ‘Mardayin Maestro’ in ‘John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New’ (Sydney, Adelaide: Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia, 2018)
From the judges: This essay is writerly – passionate, informative and flowing. It is of its time. Perkins is a ready, knowledgeable author responding to a lifetime of artworks by Mawurndjul, and the essay is impressively dense and encyclopedic,compressed with cultural knowledge.
Perkins convincingly explicates the works and the intricate relationships between the artists, all-time ancestors and ancestral beings, Country and cultural traditions. She discusses how the artworks are alive – multi-levelled, metamorphic and interconnected representations of the places, beings and their stories of Mawurndjul’s Kuninjku homelands, leading the reader into the layered complexity of representation of which Mawurndjul is a master.
Perkins commendably acknowledges and quotes her and Mawurndjul’s peers in the field, artworkers and artist contemporaries, over many decades, which both grounds his life and output, as well as registering his international renown and significance.By interweaving the artist’s work and impact, Perkins builds a strong picture of Mawurndjul’s interactions and agency, and their ongoing effect on western Arnhem Land art and internationally. The scholarship by Perkins is of great significance to the field, and adjacent disciplines, contributing much knowledge to this area.
Judges: Julie Gough and Michael Fitzgerald
Best Art Writing by a New Zealand Maori or Pasifika
$500 supported by Christchurch Art Gallery
Sean Mallon and Sébastien Galliot, ‘Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing’ (Wellington: Te Papa Press and New South Publishing, 2018)
From the judges: ‘Tatau’ is a tour de force publication, the first of its kind and is impressive in its expansive conceptual and theoretic scope which examines 3,000 years of Sāmoantatau. Sean Mallon and Sébastien Galliot present highly original scholarship that follows an indigenous framework – from prehistory to current day practice. This rich content is met with high quality design and production values that are inspired by tatau design principles: ‘the form changes but the underlying principles are the same.’ Indeed, tatau as a marking into skin is perpetuated into an innovative typographic style based on forms of the ‘au, embossed onto the front cover alongside markings employed throughout the book. This multi-authored publication offers a range of perspectives that are delivered in formats that are intellectually stimulating, yet accessible including shorter focus pieces, artist interviews and photo-essays with sumptuous imagery by Mark Adams, Greg Semu and John Agcaoili which altogether allows for a rigorous and comprehensive overview of tatau as an enduring legacy. Part of its endurance is traced across multiple disciplines to bravely engage in global debates of tatau in relation to cultural appropriation, consumerism, fashion, contemporary as well as internal politics regarding the origins of tatau, tatau on non-Sāmoans and the politics of tataudisplay. Overall, the publication breaks new ground and is a crucial resource in the areas of society, culture, history and art.
Highly Commended:
Dougal Austin, ‘Te Hei Tiki: An Enduring Treasure in a Cultural Continuum’ (Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2019)
‘Te Hei Tiki’ by Dougal Austin provides comprehensive, detailed and in-depth research of the collection of hei tiki at Te Papa Tongarewa. The beautiful photos and vivid detail of the heitiki highlight the amazing colours within pounamu, the deftness of its carvers and careful treatment of material. The rigorous content is arranged into a loose chronology within a continuum, from the first few chapters that focus on aesthetic and thematic groupings(use/meaning, types/shapes, physical origins) to later chapters that profile contemporary artists who make diverse hei tiki from pounamu, gold and other materials. ‘Te Hei Tiki’ far exceeds previous publications by anthropologists such as ‘The Maori Hei Tiki’ by H.D. Skinner (1966) over fifty years ago and offers valuable mātauranga māori insights by Austin.
Awhina Tamarapa (ed.), ‘Whatu Kākahu: Māori Cloaks’ (Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2019)
There are many books on weaving but ‘Whatu Kākahu’ is hard to beat in terms of specialist research of kākahu, descriptions of materials and details of construction that has significance for weavers and non-weavers alike. The publication exceeds in its scope and Awhina Tamarapa draws on a wide range of expertise to research a collection of kākahuthat she knows well as a weaver and former Curator Mātauranga Māori. Prominent weavers have added their knowledge not only of the physical, spiritual and scientific aspects, but have each utilised their expertise to interpret kakahu in an accessible way. This is a revised edition, with a new chapter that celebrates recent acquisitions and has a clean layout giving each kākahu a full-page photo and comprehensive description. Stunning photographs provide details and reverse of the garments, while informative drawings are very helpful to describe and illustrate the techniques.
Judges: Gina Matchitt and Ane Tong
Best Artist-led Publication: Essay / Catalogue / Book Prize
$500 supported by Monash Art Design & Architecture, Monash University
Clegg, David, ‘loca projects / correction’ (New Plymouth: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2018)
From the judges: This is a wonderful assemblage of essays and artworks that provide the needed performative counterpart to site-specific, practice-based and visitor-activated engagement of Clegg’s ‘loca projects / correction‘. It presents the artist’s beautiful conjunction of text and image, while citations from the artist’s readings contextualise photographs in the transformational complexity of place. The foreword and essays argue for ‘sculpture as proximity’ and ‘being attentive to other kinds of closeness’ (Abby Cunnane, p. 9 and 10). Clegg’s impetus to ‘document(s) understated, incidental spaces’ (Robyn Maree Pickens p. 13); and propose a series of scholarly and philosophical contexts for the art works (Wystan Curnow) are also discussed. The production is sustainably made and values of local production are evident. Each written contribution beautifully orders the publication and enhanced comprehension of ‘loca projects/correction’ with careful attention to use of Clegg’s text including strikethroughs, underscores and vertex marks.
Judges: Marion Crawford and Sarah Pirrie
Best University Art Museum Exhibition Catalogue Prize
$1000 supported by the University Art Museums Association
Dianne Byrne, et al, ‘With Heart and Hand: Art Pottery in Queensland 1900-1950’ (South Bank: Griffith University Art Museum, 2018)
From the judge: There were five entries in the Best University Art Museum Exhibition Catalogue Prize and each was of a high standard, though it would have been great to see a wider representation in this category – particularly from New Zealand’s tertiary art museums. Three entries were from the same institution so I would certainly recommend a more active recruitment of entries in future.
Three smaller catalogues did justice to the respective exhibitions, ‘Robert Smithson: Time’
‘Crystals’ (University of Queensland Art Museum; Monash University Museum of Art), in particular, by shedding new light on the artist’s archival practice through collaborative Australian and international research. ‘Archie Moore 1970-2013’ and ‘Davida Allen: In the Moment’ (both Griffith University Art Museum) provided informative, if conventional, curatorial essays and recent interviews with the artists.
Two hardcover catalogues were much more substantial, and both compiled anecdotal,archival and specialist knowledge from a range of writers; accordingly, each has value for distinct readers of Australian art history, and selecting a winner was difficult. In ‘Mutlu Cerkez: 1988-2065’ (Monash University Art Museum) curatorial essays and re-printed art reviews historicised the enigmatic artist who the authors position as a bridge between the postmodern and the contemporary. Cerkez made a deep personal impression on the Melbourne art world, while his critical gestures simultaneously registered within a global context, so the text with its comprehensive reproductions will serve curatorial studies and future scholars of the period well.
That said, ‘With Heart and Hand: Art Pottery in Queensland 1900-1950’ is the winner of the 2018 award for Best University Art Museum Exhibition Catalogue. The text combined original contributions to knowledge in the field, drawing on thorough research and applying careful connoisseurship in a neglected area of study. A fine example of regional and material art history, the essays and artists’ entries (most by Glenn R. Cooke) detail the L.J. Harvey school of pottery in the first half of the twentieth century in Brisbane and further afield. There is discussion of the influence of late nineteenth century Aestheticism and the Art & Craft Movement, as well as post WW1 art therapy, Queensland’s educational policy and Harvey’s teaching methods. It also highlights women’s largely undocumented contributions to the field of art and craft ceramics and their roles as mentors and teachers. Overall the writing is informative, scholarly and accessible, and the clean catalogue design and excellent production values make ‘With Heart and Hand’ a pleasure to hold and to eyeball.
Judge: Una Rey
Best PhD Graduate Prize
$1000 supported by Taylor and Francis
Louise Rollman ‘Curating the City: Unpacking Contemporary Art Production and Spatial Politics in Brisbane’ (PhD, Queensland University of Technology, 2018)
From the judges: We commend all five presenters and thank them for their time and enthusiasm. We appreciate the effort that has clearly gone into their research and their presentations today. These presentations have demonstrated an impressive breadth and depth of art history and practice-led research across our disciplines. It was really difficult to choose a single winner and we had lots of robust discussion. We have awarded the 2019 AAANZ PhD Prize, to Louise Rollman (Queensland University of Technology), for her research project titled ‘Curating the city: Unpacking contemporary art production and spatial politics in Brisbane’. We felt that Louise stood out for her ability to communicate a complex research project within the three minute timeframe, demonstrating its relevance and ongoing significance. We would strongly encourage more recent graduates to participate in the PhD prize in 2020 (Ngarino says especially from Aotearoa New Zealand, please!).
Judges: Ngarino Ellis, Ray Spiteri and Kate Warren