Catherine Speck

EaPr Catherine Speck

School of Humanities

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Catherine Speck Professor Emerita of Art History and Curatorship, and a member of the History Department, with a PhD in Visual Arts from Monash University and a Masters Degree in Art Education from the University of Canberra. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide in 2002, she was Head of Art History and Theory at the SA School of Art, University of South Australia. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and on the editorial Board of the Design and Australia Online (DAAO).

My research areas are in Australian Art broadly conceived including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, and its borderless and transnational aspects such as expatriate artists including Australian impressionist artists in France in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, and colonial, modern,  and contemporary  Australian art. Other areas of research are in the areas of gender and art, and gender and the representation of war and peace; the nexus between art history and exhibitions, exhibitionary practice and curatorship, the history of exhibitions and art collectors and collections. I regularly deliver talks and papers on those areas within Australia and internationally.  

Date Position Institution name
2002 - ongoing Professor Art History;Coordinator postgraduate programs in Art History & Curatorial and Museum Studies, University of Adelaide & Art Gallery of South Australia University of Adelaide

Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
2017 Fellowship Fellow, Academy of Humanities of Australia FAHA Academy of Humanities of Australia Australia -

Date Institution name Country Title
1996 Monash University Australia PhD
1986 University of Canberra Australia M.Ed
1977 Flinders University Australia BA(Hons)
1971 University of South Australia Australia Dip.T

Year Citation
2023 Speck, C. (2023). The Berndts’ Mid-Century Arnhem Land Bark Painting Exhibition: Its Legacies. Australian Historical Studies, 54(4), 625-643.
DOI
2023 Speck, C. (2023). Polaroids of the rich and famous: You should know the compulsive photographs of Andy Warhol. The Conversation.
2023 Speck, C. (2023). Milton Moon: The Australian artist who brought a Zen Buddhist, modernist and painterly sensibility to pottery.. The Conversation.
2022 Speck, C. (2022). Pride of Place: Exploring the Grimwade Collection. AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES, 53(2), 363-364.
DOI
2022 Speck, C. (2022). 'How Japanese ceramicists have tested the limits of clay',
(theconversation.com). The Conversation.
2022 Speck, C. (2022). ‘The 2022 Adelaide Biennial is titled Free / State. It explores, freedom, the state and the spaces in between’. The Conversation.
2022 Speck, C. (2022). On a cold July, Adelaide comes to life with art of light, sound and music. The Conversation.
2022 Speck, C. (2022). Why you should know the exciting, experimental, political and feminist work of senior Indian artist Nalini Malani. The Conversation.
2021 Speck, C. (2021). Margaret Hutchinson Examines the Archives of the First World War Art Scheme. History Australia.
2021 Speck, C. (2021). Thunder Raining Poison. Humanities Australia, 12, 48-58-58.
2020 Speck, C. (2020). Thunder Raining Poison: The Lineage of Protest Against Mid-Century British Nuclear Bomb Tests in Central Australia. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, Vol. 20(No. 1), 68-89.
2020 Speck, C. (2020). Vibrancy, Experimentation and Risk in ACE Open's Survey of South Australian Art.. The Conversation.
2019 Speck, C. M. (2019). Review of Jacqueline Milner and Catriona Moore (eds), 'Feminist Perspectives on Art: Contemporary Outtakes', (Routledge, 2018), and Maura Reilly, 'Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating', (Thames and Hudson, 2018). Australian and New Zealand Journl of Art, 19(2), 266-271.
2019 Speck, C. (2019). Women, Art and Wartime Industries: A Feminist Inter/
Modern Analysis,. Australian Feminist Studies,, 34(101), 1-14.
DOI WoS2
2018 Speck, C. M. (2018). Awakening: four lives in Art. Journal of Australian Studies, 42(1), 134-136.
DOI
2017 Speck, C., & Mendelssohn, J. (2017). The 1970s: Curators Framing the Avant-Garde in Writing and Rewriting Art History. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 17(1), 97-112.
DOI
2015 Speck, C. (2015). Meditations on loss: Hilda Rix Nicholas's war. Artlink: Australian contemporary art quarterly, 35(1), 40-43.
2015 Speck, C. (2015). Rupert Bunny in Paris: playing the field. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 15(1), 75-93.
DOI
2014 Speck, C., & Slade, L. (2014). Art history and exhibitions: same or different?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 14(2), 141-150.
DOI
2014 Speck, C. (2014). Dorrit Black: Unseen Forces, Art Gallery of South Australia, 14 June – 7 September 2014. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 14(2), 214-216.
DOI
2014 Speck, C. (2014). L. Bernard Hall: The Man the Art World Forgot. JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN STUDIES, 38(2), 256-258.
DOI
2013 Speck, C. (2013). Camouflage Australia: Art, Nature, Science and War. AUSTRALIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES, 44(1), 162-163.
DOI
2013 Speck, C. (2013). Wendy Sharpe: official war artist in East Timor. Artlink, 33(3), 66-67.
2013 Speck, C. (2013). The Samstag effect. Broadsheet, 42(2), 134-137.
2013 Speck, C. (2013). The frontier speaks back: two Australian artists working in Paris and London. Portal, 10(2), 1-16.
DOI
2011 De Lorenzo, C., Mendelssohn, J., & Speck, C. (2011). 1968-2008: Curated exhibitions and Australian art history. Journal of Art Historiography, 2011(4), 1-15.
2010 Speck, C. (2010). Epstein in Australia: The Haywards lead the charge. The Sculpture Journal, 19(2), 228-234.
DOI
2009 Speck, C. (2009). Contesting Modernism. Flowers, Portraits, Gum Trees: My Father and Me. Hecate, 35(1-2), 108-123.
2009 Speck, C., & Downey, G. (2009). Cosmopolitanism and modernism: on writing a new Australian art history. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 9(1/2), 101-118.
2007 Speck, C. (2007). Will Dyson: Australia's radical genius.. Australian Historical Studies, 38(129), 198-199.
2005 Speck, C. (2005). An inconvenient obsession: Ian North, Canberra Suite and Canberra Coda 1980-81. Eyeline, 57(Winter).
2005 Speck, C. (2005). Thinking about Talking our way home. Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia. Broadsheet, 34(4), 216-219.
2005 Speck, C. (2005). Public and Private Amateurs. Hecate's Australian Women's Book Review (Online Edition), 17(2).
2004 Speck, C. (2004). Nora Heysen 1911 - 2003 : An Obituary. Art Monthly Australia, 167, 33-34.
2004 Speck, C. (2004). Nora Heysen: A tale of a daughter and her father. Australian Feminist Studies, 19(43), 55-73.
DOI
2003 Speck, C. (2003). United notions. Craft Culture.
2003 Speck, C. (2003). Light Black. Craft Culture.
2002 Speck, C. (2002). Airport Luggage. Object.
2002 Speck, C. (2002). Wild Nature. Craft Culture.
2002 Speck, C. (2002). Looking at looking: A critical perspective. Australian Art Education, 25(1), 51-53.
2001 Speck, C. (2001). Edith Cavell: Martyr or patriot?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2(1), 83-98.
DOI
2001 Speck, C. (2001). Strangers in the Light. Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia. Broadsheet.

Year Citation
2019 Speck, C. (Ed.) (2019). Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen (2nd edition ed.). Adelaide: Wakefield Press.
2018 Mendelssohn, J., De Lorenzo, C., Inglis, A., & Speck, C. (2018). Australian art exhibitions: opening our eyes. Port Melbourne, Vic.: Thames and Hudson.
2014 Speck, C. (2014). Beyond the battlefield: women artists of the two World Wars. London: Reaktion Books.
2011 Heysen, H., & Heysen, N. (2011). Heysen to Heysen: Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen. C. Speck (Ed.), Canberra, ACT: National Library of Australia.
2004 Speck, C. (2004). Painting ghosts - Australian women artists in wartime. 11 Central Boulevard, Fishermans Bend, Vic 3207: Craftman's House.

Year Citation
2023 Speck, C., & Russ, V. (2023). On Working as an Aboriginal Museum Director and Curator of the Berndt Museum. In Crosscurrents in Australian First Nations and Non-Indigenous Art (pp. 27-44). Routledge.
DOI
2021 Speck, C. (2021). Flesh After Fifty. In J. Scott (Ed.), Flesh After Fifty: Changing Images of Older Women in Art (pp. 46-51). Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria: fleshafterfifty.com.
2020 Speck, C. (2020). Nora Heysen. In N. Bullock, K. Cole, D. Hart, & E. Pitt (Eds.), Know My Name (pp. 190-191). Canberra, ACT; Australia: National Gallery of Australia.
2020 Speck, C. M. (2020). Paris Calls. In P. Curtin (Ed.), Bessie Davidson: An Australian Impressionist in Paris (pp. 16-26). Bendigo, Vic; Australia: Bendigo Art Gallery.
2020 Speck, C. M. (2020). Whisperings of wilderness in Australian centenary landscapes. In R. Read, & K. Haltman (Eds.), Colonisation, Wilderness and Spaces Between: Nineteenth Century Landscape Painting in Australia and the United States (pp. 146-162). Chicago, IL; USA: Terra Foundation for American Art.
2019 Moore, C., & Speck, C. (2019). How the personal became (and remains) political. In M. Arrow, & A. Woollacott (Eds.), Everyday Revolutions: Remaking Gender, Sexuality and Culture in 1970s Australia (pp. 85-102). Canberra, Australia: ANU Press.
DOI
2019 Speck, C. (2019). Australian Art in the Nineteenth-Century: Forging a National Style. In F. Michelle (Ed.), A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Art (pp. 299-314). New York: Wiley Blackwell.
2019 Speck, C. (2019). Nora Heysen: A Portrait Painter, War Artist and Astute Observer of Human Life. In A. Hesson (Ed.), Hans and Nora Heysen: Two Generations of Australian Art (pp. 112-129). Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria.
2018 Speck, C. (2018). Arts Vietnam Exhibition Opening Speech. In R. Butler, & S. Palmer (Eds.), Antipodean Perspective: Selected Writings of Bernard Smith (pp. 154-158). Clayton, Victoria: Monash University Publishing.
2018 Speck, C., & Mendelssohn, J. (2018). Ian North: Curator of Paintings at the Art Gallery of South Australia 1971-1980. In M. Zagala (Ed.), Ian North, Art, Work, Words (pp. 123-132). Adelaide, South Australia: Art Gallery of South Australia.
2018 Speck, C. (2018). Picturing War's Affects on the Homefront during the First World War. In A. Murray (Ed.), Constructing the Memory of War in Visual Culture since 1914 The Eye on War (pp. 28-38). New York and London: Routledge.
WoS2
2017 Speck, C. (2017). Recuerdos: The Ceramic Sculpture of Liz Williams. In M. Osborne (Ed.), Liz Williams: Body Language (pp. 31-37). South Australia: Wakefield Press.
2016 Speck, C. (2016). Re-reading Bernard Smith on what constitutes Australian art. In J. Anderson, C. Marshall, & A. Yip (Eds.), The Legacies of Bernard Smith: Essays on Australian Art, History and Cultural Politics (pp. 140-152). Sydney: Power Publications.
2015 Speck, C. (2015). Facing death: The paintings of Australian artist Stella Bowen. In M. Kadar, & J. Perreault (Eds.), Working Memory: Women and Work in World War II (pp. 213-232). Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
2014 Speck, C. (2014). The history of art history at the University of Adelaide. In W. Prest (Ed.), Pasts Present: History at Australia's Third University (1 ed., pp. 158-167). Kent Town, SA: Wakefield Press.
2012 Speck, C. (2012). Hiroshima: its legacy as seen by artists. In N. Starck (Ed.), Legacies of War (1 ed., pp. 61-72). Australia: Australian Scholarly Publishing.
2011 Speck, C. (2011). Introduction. In C. Speck (Ed.), Selected Letters of Hans Heysen and Nora Heysen (Vol. 11-12, pp. 1-19). Australia: National Library of Australia.
DOI
2011 Speck, C. (2011). Nora Heysen: Art and war for a German-Australian family. In P. Monteath (Ed.), Germans: Travellers, Settlers and Their Descendants in South Australia (1 ed., pp. 402-417). Australia: Wakefield Press.
2010 Speck, C. (2010). Women commemorating ANZAC day: an alternative tradition. In A. Hede (Ed.), Reflections on ANZAC Day: from one Millennium to the Next (pp. 147-161). Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia: Heidelberg Press.
2010 Speck, C. (2010). The brilliant early years. In Unknown Book (pp. 65-73). Bendigo, Victoria, Australia: Bendigo Art Gallery.
2008 Speck, C. (2008). A not so genteel pen: Grace Cossington Smith's 'British-Australian' cartoons. In H. Kerr, & L. Warner (Eds.), Projections of Britain in the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand: 1900-1950 (pp. 36-51). Adelaide, South Australia: Lythrum Press.
2008 Speck, C. (2008). Adelaide's federal art exhibitions 1898-1923. In K. Darian-Smith, R. Gillespie, C. Jordan, & E. Willis (Eds.), Seize the Day: Exhibitions, Australia and the World (pp. 17.1-17.16). Monash: Monash University Press.
2008 Speck, C. (2008). Depicting the Land: The artistic heritage of colonial Australia. In D. Gare, & D. Ritter (Eds.), Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788 (pp. 154-160). Victoria, Australia: Gale Group.
2005 Speck, C. (2005). Nora Heysen: A tale of a daughter and her father. In S. Magarey, & K. Round (Eds.), Living history: Essays on history as biography (pp. 127-149). Unley, South Australia: Australian Humanities Press.
2003 Speck, C. (2003). Hilda Rix Nicholas (1884-1961). A man. In Artists in Action (pp. 22-23). Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
2002 Speck, C. (2002). Generation #9/26. In The Anthology of Art. Braunschweig School of Art.

Year Citation
2023 Authors: Speck C. Title: Sea and Being Change. Extent: Catalogue essay , 2 pages of text, 2 pages of images, dimensions A4 bifold.
2017 Authors: Speck C. Title: For country, for Nation. Extent: 2160 words plus pictures.
2016 Authors: Speck C. Title: Nora Heysen & Constance Stokes: Drawings from the Estate. Extent: 2 pages.

Year Citation
2019 Body, R. M. (2019). Behind the Scenes: Hans Heysen's Art World Networks. (PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide).

ARC Grants 

2014: Speck, Catherine, & Harley, R. et. al.  Design and Art Australia Online Research Tool: Enabling Next generation e-research in Australia’s Visual  and Design Cultures, ARC LIEF, $190,000

2011: Speck, C, & Harley, R. et. al.  Design and Art Australia Online: Sustainable data sharing for Australian
researchers and collections, ARC LIEF,  $240,000.

2011-2013: Speck, C, and Mendelssohn, J.; de Lorenzo, C and Inglis, A. ‘Australian Art exhibitions 1960 -2009’,  ARC Linkage ,  $117,000.

2010: Speck, C. and and (V. Johnson, J Mendelssohn, R. Benjamin, C. DeLorenzo, et. al), Dictionary of Australian Artists On-line,   ARC LIEF,  $400,000

2007: Speck, C. and Choate, R.  and (V. Johnson, J Mendelssohn, R. Benjamin, C. DeLorenzo, A. Marsh, D. Palmer, J. Ewington, et. al), Dictionary of Australian Artists On-line, ARC LIEF,  $300,000.

1999-2001: (and Ian North and Rhonda Sharp) ARC Spirt Grant (Linkage), The Samstag Legacy, in conjunction with industry partner, the Samstag program, University of SA, 63,556 

1996-9: (and Kay Lawrence)  ARC Small Grant, Significant Women Artists in the South Australian School of Art 1888-1968, $39,000

Other Grants

2016: Speck, C. ‘Australian Art Exhibitions’, University of Adelaide, $2,500 

2014: Speck, C. ‘Transgressive Landscapes,  University of Adelaide, $3,000

2013: Speck, C. ‘Transgressive Landscapes, Fay Gale Centre for Research into Gender, University of Adelaide, $3,500

2012: Speck, C. and Treagus,  M.  Body work: Performativity, femininities and visual culture, Fay Gale Centre for Research into Gender, University of Adelaide $3,000.   

2010: Speck, C and Mansfield, L. ‘Art history online’, University of Adelaide, $14,000

2009: Speck, C, Heysen to Heysen, National Library of Australia, $7,500.

2009: Speck, C, Overseas conference travel grant, University of Adelaide, $1,000

2009: Speck, C and Mansfield, L. ‘Creating a virtual gallery’, University of Adelaide, $20,000 
 
2008: Speck, C. and Heruc, M ‘Jacob Epstein Symposium’ Arts SA, $5,000. 

2008: Speck, C. University of Adelaide Teaching and Learning Grant, $14,000 University of Adelaide

2007: Speck, C. and Heruc, M. Visual Animals Project Grant,  $3,000 office of Pro-Vice Chancellor Research,

2007: Speck, C, Overseas conference travel grant, University of Adelaide, $2,000

2002: Speck, C. ‘Painting Ghosts: Australian women artists in wartime’, University of Adelaide Minor University Research Grant, $2,075

2001-2: Defining nations: The Two World Wars through the eyes of women artists in Australia, Britain and New Zealand, ATN Grant, $14,998

2000-2001: (and Ian North and Noel Frankham) Opening Pandora’s Paintbox, University of SA, Division of EASS Grant, $55,000

2001: (and Ian North) Cultural complicity: The art of the stolen generation, University of SA, Division of EASS Small Grant, $5,400.

2000-01: (and Ian North) Spirituality and its discontents, University of SA, Division of EASS Small Grant, $1,500; and Helpmann Academy Grant, $4,500.

2000-01: (and Ian North) Margaret Preston’s Aboriginality, University of SA, Division of EASS Small Grant, $4,700.

2000: (and P. Zeplin) Humour and Art, University of SA, Divisional of EASS, $3,000.

2000-01: (and I. North) Where now: Contemporary Australian and Asian art in the New Millennium, Helpmann Academy Grant, $2,500.

2000: (and P. Zeplin) C. Riding the Indian Pacific, Helpmann Academy Grant, $4,998.

1999: (and Pam Zeplin and Barrie Wraith, NASA) $4,000, Helpmann Academy Grant for series of public lectures on Bringing the Asia-Pacific Triennial Down South.

1999: (and Pam Zeplin) $3,500, for series of public lectures on Art and Culture, Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design Fund, University of SA

1996: (and Jim Moss): $11,300: Teaching and Learning Grant, Visual Art History and Theory, University of SA

1995: (and Jude Adams): $5,000: Innovative Teaching Grant, University of SA Gender Inclusive Teaching in the South Australian Art School.

1993-94: $5,700: John Treloar Grant-in-Aid, the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australian Women War Artists.

1992: $1000: University of SA Research Committee, Sybil Craig, Melbourne Modernist.

1991: $6,194: University of SA Research Committee, The art of Official Women War Artists, Stella Bowen, Nora Heysen and Sybil Craig.

1989: $2,400: the SACAE Research Committee, The art of Nora Heysen.

1988: (and Jean Duruz and David Prideaux) $1,200: SACAE Research Committee, Gender Inclusive Curriculum Practice in South Australian Schools.

l987- 89: (and David Prideaux) $5,000: the Non-Government Schools Registration Board Grant, South Australian Education Department, Accelerated Christian Education Junior Primary Language Arts Curriculum, Primary Social Studies Curriculum, and Secondary Science Curriculum.

Courses taught:

Modern Art (International)

Australian Art

Modern Australian Art

Interrogating Australian Colonial Art

Australian Indigenous Art

Curatorial and Museum Studies

Curatorial Exhibition Project 

Dissertation/Research Project in Art History

Decorative Arts and Design

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2021 Principal Supervisor Australian sculptor Ian Bow's career coincided with a transitional period in the discipline, however his figurative style is muted in the historiography. This project builds on contemporary scholarship which asserts the plurality of mid-century Modernism. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Heather Elizabeth Lee
2021 Principal Supervisor Australian sculptor Ian Bow's career coincided with a transitional period in the discipline, however his figurative style is muted in the historiography. This project builds on contemporary scholarship which asserts the plurality of mid-century Mo Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Heather Elizabeth Lee

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2014 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Behind the Scenes: Hans Heysen's Art World Networks Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Ralph Mark Body
2013 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Alexander Schramm (1813-64) and the Visual Representation of Aboriginal People in Mid-Nineteenth Century Colonial Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Susan Woodburn
2012 - 2016 Principal Supervisor Post-Imperial perspectives: British art since 1940 at the Art Gallery of South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Margot Osborne
2012 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Investigating the Aesthetic Character of Australian Urban Indigenous Art: A Socio-Political Fusion Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Nerina Dunt
2006 - 2012 Principal Supervisor The Formation of the Japanese Art Collection at the Art Gallery of South Australia 1904-1940: Tangible Evidence of Bunmei Kaika Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Jennifer Harris
2002 - 2009 Principal Supervisor Changing Fortunes: The History of China Painting in South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Avis Carol Smith

Date Role Membership Country
1992 - ongoing Member CACSA (Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia) Australia
1990 - ongoing Member Art Association of Australian and New Zealand (AAANZ) Australia
1975 - ongoing Member Australian Experimental Art Foundation -

Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
2007 - ongoing Board Member Design and Art in Australia Online DAAO - Australia

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