Alan McLeod McCulloch
Encyclopedia
Alan McCulloch (b. 5 August 1907 at St Kilda, Victoria
, Australia
. d. 21 December 1992, Melbourne
, Victoria, Australia) was one of Australia's foremost art critics for more than 60 years , art historian and gallery director, also cartoonist
and painter.
, returning to Melbourne as a teenager, he initially worked in banking but enrolled in night classes at art school to pursue his developing art interest. He wrote journalism and art criticism and cartoons for Australian newspapers from 1927. In 1946 he moved to America where, in 1948, he married Ella Bromley Moscovitz (1908–1991) an Australian-born actress, businesswoman and US citizen. They remained together until her death in 1991. After a period in Europe and the UK (1946–1950) the couple returned to Australia to live in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.
He was art critic for the Argus in 1944-47 and after the war became art editor of the Australasian Post
, to which he also contributed cartoons. In 1951 he became an associate editor for Meanjin
(until 1963), and art critic on the Melbourne Herald, Melbourne, 1952–1982.
He held several solo exhibitions of his paintings and drawings in London and Melbourne.
As a curator, in 1965, he assembled an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings from the Chaseling and Cahill collections from the Museum of Victoria to tour to the USA (Houston Fine Art Gallery, Texas).
He was the inaugural director (1970–1992) of the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, established in 1969 by the Mornington Shire, and it was under his leadership that the MPRG began developing a specialist collection of Australian prints and drawings.
He was curator of The Heroic Years of Australian Art 1977–78 touring exhibition.
Honorary doctorate from Melbourne University.
Emeritus Medal, Australia Council.
, Canberra
, ACT; Australian War Memorial
, Canberra, ACT; National Gallery of Victoria
, Melbourne, Victoria; Mornington Peninsula Art Centre, Victoria; Art Gallery of Western Australia
, Perth
, WA
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. d. 21 December 1992, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria, Australia) was one of Australia's foremost art critics for more than 60 years , art historian and gallery director, also cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
and painter.
Life
Born in Melbourne and brought up in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, returning to Melbourne as a teenager, he initially worked in banking but enrolled in night classes at art school to pursue his developing art interest. He wrote journalism and art criticism and cartoons for Australian newspapers from 1927. In 1946 he moved to America where, in 1948, he married Ella Bromley Moscovitz (1908–1991) an Australian-born actress, businesswoman and US citizen. They remained together until her death in 1991. After a period in Europe and the UK (1946–1950) the couple returned to Australia to live in Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.
He was art critic for the Argus in 1944-47 and after the war became art editor of the Australasian Post
Australasian Post
Australasian Post, or "Aussie Post," was Australia's longest-running weekly picture magazine.The origins of Australasian Post date back Saturday 3 January 1857 to the first volume of the publication Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle...
, to which he also contributed cartoons. In 1951 he became an associate editor for Meanjin
Meanjin
Meanjin is an Australian literary journal. The name - pronounced Mee-AN-jin - is derived from an Aboriginal word for the land where the city Brisbane is located.It was founded in December 1940, in Brisbane, by Clem Christesen...
(until 1963), and art critic on the Melbourne Herald, Melbourne, 1952–1982.
He held several solo exhibitions of his paintings and drawings in London and Melbourne.
As a curator, in 1965, he assembled an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings from the Chaseling and Cahill collections from the Museum of Victoria to tour to the USA (Houston Fine Art Gallery, Texas).
He was the inaugural director (1970–1992) of the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, established in 1969 by the Mornington Shire, and it was under his leadership that the MPRG began developing a specialist collection of Australian prints and drawings.
He was curator of The Heroic Years of Australian Art 1977–78 touring exhibition.
The Encyclopedia of Australian Art
In 1968 he published his most significant work, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, which started as a scrapbook of cuttings kept since the 1940s, and which became the main reference for connoisseurs, collectors, dealers, critics and historians of Australian art. He was its sole author for several updates and reprints and a completely new edition in 1984, then was joined by his daughter Susan McCulloch in 1990, who co-edited for its 1994 edition. In that, McCulloch's personal note (one was included in each edition) was the last thing he wrote, just two weeks before he died. In it he says, "As with electricity we know what art does but we don't know what it is." He then quotes the compiler of The Oxford Dictionary as saying: "The word 'art' gave me more trouble than any other word in the English language.". His daughter Susan and his granddaughter Emily McCulloch Childs continue work on the Encyclopedia into the third generation, using the criteria established by Alan McCulloch in 1968; artists are chosen for inclusion if their work is represented by major purchases in a national, state, or regional gallery or if they have won a significant prize. The Encyclopedia is now in its 4th edition, which was recently reported by The Age newspaper as having almost completely sold out.Awards
Order of Australia.Honorary doctorate from Melbourne University.
Emeritus Medal, Australia Council.
Collections holding works by Alan McCulloch
National Gallery of AustraliaNational Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, ACT; Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
, Canberra, ACT; National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
, Melbourne, Victoria; Mornington Peninsula Art Centre, Victoria; Art Gallery of Western Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia
The Art Gallery of Western Australia is a public gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth, Western Australia. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, WA
Publications
- McCulloch, Alan, McCulloch, Susan & McCulloch Childs, Emily. McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 2006 Fitzroy, VIC : Aus Art Editions (4th revised edition)
- McCulloch, Alan; & McCulloch, Susan. Encyclopedia of Australian art. 1994 St Leonards, NSW : Allen & Unwin (3rd revised edition)
- McCulloch, Alan. The Golden Age of Australian Painting: Impressionism and the Heidelberg School
- McCulloch, Alan. Artists of the Australian Gold Rush.
Illustrated and written by McCulloch
- McCulloch, Alan.So This Was The Spot (Melbourne, 1934)
- McCulloch, Alan. Trial by Tandem, (1951)
- McCulloch, Alan. Highway Forty, (1952)