Handbook

This subject provides a survey of Australian art from 1939 to the present. It traces the shifting sources of overseas influence, from Europe to the USA to a recent rich variety. Themes discussed include the 'Angry Decade' (1937 - 1947), the Antipodeans, abstract expressionism, the function of international exhibitions and art magazines, Pop Art, Minimal and Conceptual Art, Neo-Expressionism, and postmodernity.The opening up of the processes of art to include new forms and to represent groups previously marginalised because of gender, class, or ethnicity is discussed via the examples of specifically feminist art and contemporary Aboriginal painting.