Documents on Art and Taste in Australia, 1770-1914 Smith,Bernard

Bernard Smith's monumental collection does exactly what it says on the tin – and brilliantly so. This Oxford University Press volume gathers the primary sources that shaped Australian artistic consciousness from Cook's first voyage through to the eve of WWI. Letters, exhibition reviews, newspaper articles, and official documents reveal how colonists wrestled with questions of taste, beauty, and what it meant to create art in the antipodes. It's the kind of scholarly work that's both rigorously researched and genuinely fascinating to browse. Perfect for art historians, Australian studies scholars, and anyone curious about our cultural foundations.