Elizabeth Ann Dewar Churcher (''née'' Cameron; 11 January 193131 March 2015) was an Australian arts administrator, best known as 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 1990 to 1997. She was also a painter in her own right earlier in her life.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Cameron was born on 11 January 1931 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. From age 7 to 15 she attended

Somerville House Somerville House is an Independent school, independent, Boarding school, boarding and day school for girls, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, South Brisbane, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Es ...

school, paid for by her grandmother. There she was taught art by Patricia Prentice. She left school after grade 10 because her father did not think she needed a higher education. In 1942 as an 11-year-old, Churcher saw Blandford Fletcher's ''Evicted'' at 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 ...

, which inspired her to become an artist. After leaving school, she studied under artist

Caroline Barker Caroline Barker (born 1981) is a British sports journalist and broadcaster who works in television and radio. She currently presents mainly for BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, Sky Sports and Premier League Productions. Barker was the fir ...

. Churcher won a travelling scholarship to Europe and attended the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

in London. She received a Master of Arts from the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, in 1977.

Career

In the years preceding the formation of the Queensland Branch of the Contemporary Art Society, Betty and her husband Roy Churcher involved a new group of people who were interested in contemporary art (in particular

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

) in Brisbane. (Roy was a key instigator of the establishment of the society, and became one of two inaugural vice-presidents when it was established in 1961.) Between 1972 and 1975, Churcher was art critic for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' newspaper. She became Dean of School of Art and Design in 1982, and taught Art History at the progressive Phillip Institute of Technology (now

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

) until 1987, when she was appointed director of the

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

. She left in 1990 after disagreements with

Robert Holmes à Court Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court (27 July 1937 – 2 September 1990) was a South African-born Australian businessman who became Australia's first billionaire, before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 53. A great- ...

about the gallery's acquisition of a

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist ...

painting."A Life Well Drawn" by Kate Legge, ''

The Weekend Australian Magazine ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatewat ...

'', 29–30 March 2014, pp. 10–14 She was then appointed director of the Australian National Gallery. She hosted several television shows in the 1990s and authored several books, including ''The Art of War'' about war artists. While director of the National Gallery, she was dubbed "Betty Blockbuster" because of her love of blockbuster exhibitions and for her love of movies. Churcher initiated the building of new galleries on the eastern side of the building, opened in March 1998, to house large-scale temporary exhibitions. She changed the name of the Gallery from the Australian National Gallery to its current title. During her tenure the museum also purchased ''Golden Summer, Eaglemont'' by

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...

for $3.5 million. This was the last great picture from the

Heidelberg School The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...

still in private hands. Churcher dedicated her time to displaying hidden artworks and lesser known acquisitions of the National Gallery of Australia in a television program called ''Hidden Treasures'' on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

Recognition

In 1996 a portrait of Churcher painted by her son, Peter Churcher, and titled ''Betty at Home'' was a finalist in the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

. The prize is awarded for the "best portrait painting preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics".

Davida Allen Davida Frances Allen (born 20 October 1951) is an Australian painter, filmmaker and writer. Early life and education Davida Allen was born on 20 October 1951 in Charleville, Queensland. She studied under Betty Churcher at the Stuartholme Schoo ...

painted a portrait of her in 1990, titled ''Hey Betty''. In 2001, Churcher was inducted into the

Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The Honour Roll was established as part of the cele ...

Death and legacy

Churcher died of cancer on 31 March 2015 at the age of 84. After her death she was described by one writer as "a seminal figure in the arts sector, a superior curator and administrator as well as a gifted communicator who introduced Australians to the world of art outside the national collections". The National Gallery of Australia introduced the Betty Churcher Memorial Oration in 2022; the inaugural speaker was the Australian director of the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

in Washington,

Melissa Chiu Melissa Chiu (born 1972) is a museum director, curator and author, and the director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. She is a board member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the American Alliance of Museums, ...

Family

Betty was married to Roy (1933–2014)"Roy Churcher"

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 ...

and had four sons and seven grandchildren. One son is the artist Peter Churcher.

Bibliography

Books

* * * * * * * *

Critical studies and reviews

Notes

External links

*
Hidden Treasures with Betty ChurcherBiography and interviewBiography
by Glenn R. Cooke, in ''

Dictionary of Australian Artists The ''Dictionary of Australian Artists'' (DAA) was the outcome of a project begun in the 1970s at the University of Sydney under the leadership of Bernard Smith, and was continued after his retirement in 1981 by Joan Kerr. The dictionary wen ...

''
Educational Resources involving Betty Churcher
*
"Betty Churcher: A mission to turn art into an adventure"
by Matthew Westwood and Victoria Laurie, '

'', 31 March 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Churcher, Betty 1931 births 2015 deaths Australian curators Directors of the National Gallery of Australia Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Alumni of the Royal College of Art Australian women writers Australian writers Australian women painters Women art historians Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Australian National University alumni Australian National University faculty RMIT University faculty People from Brisbane Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Australian people of Scottish descent Australian art gallery directors Australian women curators