Gerard Ronald Vaughan (born 27 September 1953) is an Australian art historian and curator. He was director of the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

from 1999 to 2012, and was director of the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

from 2014 to 2018.

Early life and education

Vaughan was born in

Devonport, Tasmania Devonport ( ; Palawa Kani: ''Tiagarra'') is a city in northern Tasmania, Australia, located on the lands of the Pannilerpanner clan of the Palawa nation. It is situated at the mouth of the Mersey River. Devonport had an urban population of 26, ...

, in 1953. He was educated in Melbourne at

Christian Brothers College, St Kilda , motto_translation = Virtue Alone Is Noble , established = , type = Independent secondary school , religion = Roman Catholic , denomination = Christian Brothers , trust ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Master of Arts, writing his thesis on French symbolist painter

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

Oxford

In 1981, Vaughan undertook doctoral research at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

on the collecting of Roman antiquities in 18th century England, concentrating on the collector and antiquary

Charles Townley Charles Townley FRS (1 October 1737 – 3 January 1805) was a wealthy English country gentleman, antiquary and collector, a member of the Towneley family. He travelled on three Grand Tours to Italy, buying antique sculpture, vases, coins, manu ...

, in the context of neoclassical taste. He remained in England for eighteen years, holding several academic positions there as a visiting scholar, resident fellow at Wolfson College, London-based consultant for the

Felton Bequest Alfred Felton (8 November 1831 – 8 January 1904) was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist. Biography Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England, the fifth child of six sons and three daughters of William Felton, ...

at the National Gallery of Victoria, and private secretary to the

Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford is the chief executive and leader of the University of Oxford. The following people have been vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford (formally known as The Right Worshipful the Vice-Chance ...

, Sir Patrick Neill, and later, Sir Richard Southwood. In 1991, Vaughan was made deputy director of

Campaign for Oxford The Campaign for the University of Oxford, or simply Campaign for Oxford, is a fundraising appeal for the University of Oxford, started in 1988. It is the biggest fundraising campaign for Higher Education in Europe and one of the largest un ...

, the university's fundraising appeal. In 1994, Vaughan was appointed inaugural Director of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Development Trust, with special responsibility for funding

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...

's Great Court.''Who's Who in Australia 2016'', ConnectWeb.

Australia

In 1999, Vaughan returned to Australia, where he was appointed director and CEO of the

(NGV). At the NGV, he prioritised fundraising from the private sector, firstly for the NGV's 1999–2003 redevelopment program, including

Mario Bellini Mario Bellini (born February 1, 1935 in Milan) is an Italian architect, critic, and designer. He received a degree in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and began working as an architect in the early 1960s. Like many other Italia ...

's re-thinking of Sir

Roy Grounds Sir Roy Burman Grounds (18 December 19052 March 1981) was an Australian architect. His early work included buildings influenced by the Moderne movement of the 1930s, and his later buildings of the 50s and 60s, such as the National Gallery of V ...

' 1960s principal building, and a new building for Australian art in nearby

Federation Square Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...

, by Lab Partners. He also gave attention to the gallery's foundation, increasing its capital reserves from $9 million in 1999 to some $50 million in 2011, and funding major acquisitions. Vaughan was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

in the 2011 Australia Day Honours for services to the arts. In 2014, Vaughan was announced as the new director of the

(NGA), replacing Ron Radford who had headed the gallery for ten years. In September 2017, Vaughan announced his retirement, allowing the NGA a year to find his successor. In April 2018, it was announced that Nick Mitzevich, the director of the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), would take over at the start of July. Vaughan appears in the 2019 documentary film ''D'art'' directed by

Karl von Möller Karl von Möller (born 11 December 1969) is an Australian cinematographer and film maker. He is best known for ''Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!'', ''D'art'' and Storm Warning (2007 film), Storm Warning. Early life ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Gerard 1953 births Living people Australian curators Australian art historians Directors of the National Gallery of Australia Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford People from Devonport, Tasmania People educated at St Mary's College, Melbourne