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Rex Butler and A.D.S. Donaldson Challenge Terry Smith's Provincialism Thesis in ARTMargins Response

opinion-review · 2026-04-19

On September 16, 2017, Rex Butler and A.D.S. Donaldson released a critical reply to Terry Smith's 2017 piece, "The Provincialism Problem: Then and Now," published in ARTMargins. They contend that Smith's assertion from his 1974 Artforum article, which characterized Australian art as provincial, is outdated. The authors point to historical ties, including Australian artists' participation in the 1913 Armory Show and John Russell's impact on Matisse. They also mention exhibitions such as Australian Impressionists in France (2013) and Australian Impressionists (2017) to illustrate Australia's integration into the global art scene. Their response challenges Smith's modernist perspective and calls for an art history that acknowledges Australia's international involvement, featuring artists like Ambrose Patterson and Tommy McRae. Ultimately, they advocate for a redefined art history rooted in global contemporaneity.

Key facts

  • Rex Butler and A.D.S. Donaldson published a response to Terry Smith's article on September 16, 2017 in ARTMargins.
  • Terry Smith's original essay "The Provincialism Problem" appeared in Artforum in September 1974.
  • The authors argue Australian art was never provincial, citing historical global connections.
  • Australian artists like Charles Conder and Frank Nankivell participated in the 1913 Armory Show in New York.
  • John Russell, an Australian painter, influenced Henri Matisse during their time on Belle-Île, France.
  • Exhibitions such as Australian Impressionists in France (2013) at the National Gallery of Victoria challenge provincial narratives.
  • Aboriginal art, exemplified by Tommy McRae, is presented as inherently contemporary and non-provincial.
  • The response critiques Smith's modernist framework and advocates for a contemporary art history recognizing global simultaneity.

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • ARTMargins
  • Artforum
  • National Gallery of Victoria
  • Royal Academy of Arts
  • National Gallery
  • Harvard Art Museums
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • New Museum
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
  • Venice Biennale
  • Association of American Painters and Sculptors
  • Salon d'Automne
  • Seattle School of Art
  • Abstraction-Création
  • Léonce Rosenberg
  • Jeanne Bucher
  • Salon Réalités Nouvelles
  • Galerie Colette Allendy
  • Cooper Union Art School
  • New York Cultural Center
  • Time
  • The New Yorker
  • Monash University
  • National Art School
  • Oxford University Press
  • University of Chicago Press
  • Lawrence King Publishing
  • Phaidon Press
  • Allen & Unwin
  • Stanford University Press
  • Verso
  • Penguin
  • Suhrkamp
  • ARTMargins Online

Locations

  • Melbourne
  • Australia
  • Sydney
  • New York
  • United States
  • London
  • United Kingdom
  • Paris
  • France
  • Berlin
  • Germany
  • Chicago
  • Cambridge
  • Massachusetts
  • Los Angeles
  • California
  • Washington D.C.
  • Perth
  • Grand Central Station
  • Tasmania
  • Castlemaine
  • Venice
  • Italy
  • Seattle
  • Adelaide
  • White House
  • Rose Garden
  • Belle-Île
  • Goulburn Island
  • Northern Territory
  • Texas
  • Victoria

Sources

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