About
This symposium celebrates the life and legacy of one of Australia’s most eminent curators, Terence Lane OAM. During his long career at the National Gallery of Victoria, Lane was instrumental in shaping the collection and culture of that institution through his record of art acquisitions and pioneering exhibitions and publications. Lane also played a significant role in the field of heritage conservation, overseeing the restoration of Werribee Park, as well as consulting on several other historic house projects, including Lanyon in Canberra and Villa Alba and Raheen, in Melbourne.
His extensive experience in the history of heritage interiors was revealed in his ground-breaking publication of 1990, Australians at home: a documentary history of Australian domestic interiors from 1788 to 1914, which he co-authored with historian, Jessie Serle. A man of elegance, urbanity and charm, Lane was esteemed for his great knowledge of art and design, and his connoisseur’s eye. He embodied the idea of the scholar-curator and played a major role in enhancing the NGV’s international reputation. A group of leading academics and curators who were friends and colleagues of Terence Lane will present papers that reflect his interests and achievements in a symposium that will honour his career and lasting legacy.
Banner photo credit: Kate Gollings, Portrait of Terence Lane, nd (detail).
Registration
The symposium is free, but registration is essential.
Morning and afternoon tea is included. A boxed lunch may be ordered and paid for when registering.
Location
Kathleen Fitzpatrick Lecture Theatre, Arts West Building, The University of Melbourne
Symposium programme overview
Introduction and Acknowledgement of Country: 9.15-9.30am
Professor Lisa Slade, Hugh Ramsay Chair in Australian Art History, University of Melbourne and Michael Varcoe-Cocks, Associate Director, Conservation, NGV
Session 1 – International Design: 9.30–10.45am
In developing the collection of Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Victoria, Terence Lane shaped both public and scholarly appreciation of International Design. In this session we learn about the evolution of the NGV’s international design collection through a series of case-studies delivered by Terence’s colleagues and contemporaries.
Chair
Irena Zdanowicz, Independent curator; Former Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, NGV
Speakers
- Emeritus Professor Tim Bonyhady AM, Australian National University College of Law
- Amanda Dunsmore, Senior Curator of International Decorative Arts, NGV
- Christopher Menz, Independent curator; Former Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, NGV & Former Director AGSA
Session 2 – Australian Art: 11.15am–12.30pm
In this session we return home to Australia to explore how art and design anticipated emerging national and imperial identities from the colonial period to the early twentieth century. We consider how Terence Lane’s acquisitions and exhibitions expanded the public’s understanding of nineteenth-century Australian art.
Chair
Dr Mary Eagle, Independent curator, former Head of Australian Art, NGA
Speakers
- Alisa Bunbury, Grimwade Collection Curator, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne
- Jane Clark, Senior Research Curator, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart
- Michael Varcoe-Cocks, Associate Director Conservation, NGV
Session 3 – Australian Interiors: 1.30–2.45pm
Continuing our antipodean focus, this session centres on the home as the locus of ingenuity and creativity. Taking its cue from Terence Lane’s and Jessie Serle’s pioneering publication, Australians at Home (1990), we celebrate the domestic interior as a mirror of social attitudes and aesthetic obsessions, with case studies ranging from the Arts and Crafts to mid-century Modernism.
Chair
Dr Ted Gott, Senior Curator, International Art, NGV
Speakers
- Dr Matthew Martin, Senior Lecturer, Art History and Art Curatorship, University of Melbourne; Former Curator of International Decorative Arts, NGV
- Dr Alison Inglis AM, Honorary Fellow, Art History and Art Curatorship, University of Melbourne; Emeritus Trustee, NGV
- Kirsty Grant, Independent Curator and former Senior Curator of Australian Art, NGV
Session 4 – Collecting and Collectors: 3.15–4.30pm
Beyond the walls of the National Gallery of Victoria, Terence Lane’s connoisseurship aided the creation and the restoration of notable private and public buildings. In this final session of the day, we turn our attention to the exacting art of collecting and the display of collections, a passion pursued not only with discipline but with purpose.
Chair
Humphrey Clegg, Director and CEO, Geelong Gallery
Speakers
- Dr James Broadbent, Architectural and garden historian
- Dr Gerard Vaughan AM, Honorary Fellow, Art History and Art Curatorship, University of Melbourne; former Director of NGV and former Director of NGA
- Diana Morgan AM, author and collector; former President of NGV Women’s Association
Open session and closing remarks 4.30-5.30pm, followed by drinks 5.30-6.30pm
Programme and speakers
Download the full symposium programme including speaker biographies and abstracts of the papers being presented.
Acknowledgements
The symposium is supported by the Australian Institute of Art History.
Contact
For more information about the symposium please contact:
Dr Alison Inglis, Art History and Curatorship
Email: asi@unimelb.edu.au