Pamela Gutman (1944 – 31 March 2015) was an Australian researcher,

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. Specialised in ancient Burmese art, she was considered an authority in the domain.

Early life and education

Gutman was born Pamela Christine Munson in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 19 September 1944, the eldest of three daughters to Helmut Mundstein (later Munson), an architect and quantity surveyor, and Olga Mundstein (née Watmuff), a bookkeeper. In 1955, the family moved to Melbourne, where she studied at the

Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School (Bravely, Faithfully, Happily) , established = , type = Independent, single-sex, Christian, day school , denomination = Baptist , slogan = Girls Unstoppable , principal ...

. She completed her tertiary education at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, focusing on German, philosophy, and art history. She married Gerry Gutman, a public servant and economist, in 1968. She pursued a doctorate at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, becoming the first Australian scholar to complete a doctorate in

Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...

. In 1972, she began field research in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(now Myanmar) for her PhD thesis, ''Ancient Arakan, with Special Reference to Its Cultural History, 5th to 12th Centuries'', completed in 1977.

Career

Gutman entered public and university service after completing her education, working for the Australian

Department of Immigration The Department of Immigration was an Australian government department that existed between July 1945 and June 1974. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administ ...

and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. From 1997 to 2004, she served as a member of the

Refugee Review Tribunal The Refugee Review Tribunal was an Australian administrative law tribunal established in 1993. Along with the Migration Review Tribunal, the Refugee Review Tribunal was amalgamated to a division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 1 July 201 ...

. In 2001, she published ''Burma’s Lost Kingdoms: Splendours of Arakan'', which is now a key reference for scholars of

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...

. Throughout her career, she advised many galleries, including 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 ...

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

in Saint Petersburg, and

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Man ...

in New York.

Death

Gutman died on 31 March 2015 from cancer. She was survived by her daughter, three grandchildren, and two sisters. At the time of her death, she had not yet completed a planned second edition of ''Burma’s Lost Kingdoms: Splendours of Arakan'', and a biography of

Gordon Luce Gordon Hannington Luce was a colonial scholar in Burma. He was born on 20 January 1889 and died on 3 May 1979. His outstanding library containing books, manuscripts, maps and photographs – The Luce Collection – was acquired by the National ...

, a British scholar of Burmese history.

Publications

* ''Burma’s Lost Kingdoms: Splendours of Arakan'' (2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutman, Pamela 20th-century Burmese historians 21st-century Burmese historians University of Vienna alumni Australian National University alumni Historians of Southeast Asia Australian historians 1944 births 2015 deaths Burmese studies scholars People from Adelaide Australian people of German descent Deaths from cancer