Daniel Thomas

… over the course of half a century, Daniel has asked and answered the questions that no one else has thought of. Originality, curiosity, generosity and intellectual precision have always been at the heart of his work. Andrew Sayers, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

No one knows more about Australian art than Daniel Thomas. Over the past sixty years, he has shaped Australian art history, championing women artists such as Grace Cossington Smith and extending the appreciation of art beyond museum walls to include performance and environmental art. Daniel’s exhibitions and purchases – as the first museum professional at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, inaugural curator of Australian art at the National Gallery in Canberra, and director of the Art Gallery of South Australia – have defined our national canon of art.

Covering the period from 1958 to 2020, Recent past: writing Australian art is the first anthology of Thomas’s writings and presents an overview of Australian art, at once authoritative and idiosyncratic, bringing alive both old and new art.

Daniel life’s work has been to make art more widely understood and enjoyed. Yet most of his writings have appeared in specialist publications which are often now difficult to source. This book celebrates Daniel’s contribution to Australian art and will introduce his writings to new generations of art enthusiasts.

About the Editors

Hannah Fink is former editor of Art and Australia and Art AsiaPacific magazines. Her most recent book is Bronwyn Oliver: strange things (Piper Press, 2017).

Steven Miller is chief librarian and archivist at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He has published widely on art, his most recent books are Awakening: Four Lives in Art (Wakefield Press, 2015) with Eileen Chanin and Dogs in Australian art (Wakefield Press, 2013/revised edition 2016) and his book Degenerates and perverts: the 1939 Herald exhibition of French and British contemporary art with Eileen Chanin won the NSW Premier's Australian History Award in 2006.