Roger Harold Benjamin (born ) is professor of

Art History 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 ...

at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. Benjamin is an Australian art historian and curator who was born and raised in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, where he attended the

Canberra Grammar School , motto_translation = For God, for Church, for Country , city = Red Hill , state = Australian Capital Territory , country = Australia , coordinates = , type ...

. Moving to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, he trained in

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at 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 nor ...

(1975–79) before travelling to the United States for his MA (1981) and PhD (1985) at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, undertaking research in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. His first book and articles in French, British, and American journals focused on

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

and the art of the Fauves (''Matisse’s "Notes of a Painter": Criticism, Theory and Context, 1891-1908'' Ann Arbor, 1987). Benjamin moved back to Australia with his appointment as lecturer in Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne, where he taught for 14 years (1984–98). In 1995, he co-curated the travelling retrospective for the

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Gallery ...

and, in 1997, curated ''Orientalism: Delacroix to Klee'' at the

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 ...

. His long-standing interest in Orientalist art culminated in ''Orientalist Aesthetics: Art, Colonialism and French North Africa, 1880-1930'' (Berkeley 2003), which received the prestigious Robert Motherwell Book Award in 2004. Benjamin's exhibition ''Renoir and Algeria'' was organised by the

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

before travelling to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and Paris, where it was reincarnated as (2003). Benjamin moved from Melbourne to Canberra as a research fellow at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at ANU (1998–2001). His work on contemporary Australian art includes the exhibition (Sydney & Melbourne, 2006) and numerous writings on Tim Johnson. He has taught on Aboriginal art since 1992, and in 2009 curated ''Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Painting from Papunya'' (

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

) . From 2003 to 2007, he was J. W. Power Professor and Director of the Power Institute at the University of Sydney, succeeding

Virginia Spate Virginia Margaret Spate (; 1937 – 12 August 2022) was a British-born Australian art historian and academic. Spate was born in the United Kingdom in 1937. She lived in Burma as a child until her family was evacuated during the Pacific War. In ...

. Academics whose postgraduate work Benjamin has supervised include Ian McLean, Mary Roberts, Chris McAuliffe, Charles Green, Caroline Jordan, Luke Gartlan, Natalie Adamson, and Stephen Gilchrist. Benjamin held the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

’s DORA professorial fellowship from 2013 to 2016, resulting in his book ''Kandinsky and Klee in Tunisia'',

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 2015. His exhibition iskra, visions of an Oasiswas held at the , Paris, in 2016 before travelling to the in in 2017. Benjamin was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

in 2006.

Selected publications

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References

1957 births Bryn Mawr College alumni Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Living people People educated at Canberra Grammar School People from Canberra University of Melbourne alumni Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Academic staff of the University of Sydney {{art-historian-stub