Kiffy Rubbo

curating the 1970s
ed. Janine Burke, Helen Hughes

‘A reminder of what an extraordinary time the seventies was … I was amazed by what she achieved.’

Suzanne Steinbruckner, Readings Monthly

‘Vividly recalls a leading light at a defining moment in Australian contemporary art.’

Art Guide

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‘Among the small but fast-growing cohort of art curators in Australia during the 1970s, Kiffy Rubbo’s light shone the brightest. Kiffy’s ideas for thematic exhibitions were unique for the period, and have echoed through artistic and curatorial practice ever since. The essays in this book are lively, informative, and moving. So, too, are her letters to her elder brother Mike — like her, a member of a remarkably creative family. This book attests to the ongoing impact of her commitment to experimental art, to her infectious enthusiasm for showing it, and to her loving spirit.’

Terry Smith, FAHA, Australia Council Visual Arts Laureate and author of Talking Contemporary Curating

‘I was lucky enough to fall briefly, but memorably, within the aura of Kiffy Rubbo and her pioneering curatorial work during my 1975 visit to Australia. I met some wonderful women who have remained friends for decades. All our exchanges confirmed our passionate belief that women coming together and supporting each other in art and life would change the world ... still a work in progress.’

Lucy R. Lippard, author, art critic, activist, and curator

‘This rich collection of memoirs and documents from a broad circle of artists, critics, friends, and family reveals Kiffy Rubbo to have been an extraordinary advocate for experimental art. A mentor of the avant-garde through the tumultuous era of the seventies, Kiffy Rubbo is a must-read for anyone with a passion for Australian art.’

Dr Ann Stephen, FAHA, author, art historian, and senior curator, University Art Gallery and Art Collection, the University of Sydney

'Kiffy Rubbo was ahead of her times. To my mind she was the first Australian curator of contemporary art. She believed deeply in the cause of advanced art and artists. She had an extraordinary empathy with artists — and patience! — which gave her a singular place in the Australian art world. How strange but how reassuring it is that a life that was devoted to relatively ephemeral events such as the management of a gallery, exhibitions, installations, and symposia lives on as a memory and source of inspiration to others. She would have been so pleased, so non-plussed and so amused!'

Patrick McCaughey, art historian and author of Strange Country: why Australian painting matters

‘It is hard not to feel that the culture of the past 35 years has been the poorer without Kiffy Rubbo’s ongoing contribution. But this book testifies to what she gave in her time.’

Owen Richardson, The Saturday Age

How one woman helped to shape the Australian art world

Kiffy Rubbo was a dynamic and unique force in Australian art in the 1970s. It was the time of ‘the personal is political’, of the Vietnam War and the draft, of Indigenous rights and feminism. It was under Kiffy Rubbo’s leadership — and at a time when the artistic community was increasingly seen as an alternative to the mainstream political rhetoric — that the George Paton Gallery, at the University of Melbourne, would become known as a vital, nationally recognised centre for contemporary art.

Through Kiffy’s visionary and progressive approach, the gallery was transformed into a hub for ideas and discussion, and art-political activism. It became the home for feminist enterprises such as the Women’s Art Movement and the Women’s Art Register, as well as fostering publications such as the Art Almanac and Arts Melbourne. Many major contemporary artists, such as Elizabeth Gower, Stelarc, Peter Tyndall, and Lyndal Jones, were early exhibitors there.

Featuring contributions by significant curators, artists, and critics, Kiffy Rubbo: curating the 1970s explores for the first time Rubbo’s enduring legacy — and the immense role that she played in nurturing Australian visual-art culture at such a crucial time in its history.

‘A reminder of what an extraordinary time the seventies was … I was amazed by what she achieved.’

Suzanne Steinbruckner, Readings Monthly

‘Vividly recalls a leading light at a defining moment in Australian contemporary art.’

Art Guide

View all reviews

Terry Smith, FAHA, Australia Council Visual Arts Laureate and author of Talking Contemporary Curating

Lucy R. Lippard, author, art critic, activist, and curator

Dr Ann Stephen, FAHA, author, art historian, and senior curator, University Art Gallery and Art Collection, the University of Sydney

Patrick McCaughey, art historian and author of Strange Country: why Australian painting matters

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 210mm × 148mm

Extent:256pp

ISBN (13):9781925321395

RRP:$29.99

Pub date:31 Oct 2016

Rights Held: World

High-res cover:Download Image

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Janine Burke

Janine Burke is an author, art historian, curator, and novelist. She has published twenty books including Australian Gothic: A Life of Albert Tucker (2002), The Heart Garden: Sunday Reed and Heide (2004), The Gods of Freud: Sigmund Freud's Art Collection (2006), and Nest: The Art of Birds (2012). Janine won the 1986 Victorian Premier's Award for Fiction. She has been the recipient of residencies and grants including an Australia Council for the Arts Established Writers Grant (2014). Janine is Honorary Senior Fellow, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.

Helen Hughes

Helen Hughes is Research Curator at Monash University Museum of Art, Assistant Lecturer in Art History and Curatorial Practice, Monash University, and is a co-founder and co-editor of the contemporary art journal Discipline.

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Kiffy Rubbo

curating the 1970s
ed. Janine Burke, Helen Hughes

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curating the 1970s
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