Ronald Warwick Radford is an Australian curator, who was the 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 ...

(NGA) from 2004 until 2014. He was previously the Director of the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Early life and education

Ronald Warwick Radford was born in

Warragul Warragul () is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, in 1949. He attended

Scotch College, Melbourne Scotch College is a private, Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college was established in 1851 as The Melbourne Academy in a house in Spri ...

, and then the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

and

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

. In 2006, he was awarded

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

(D.Litt.) by the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

for the entirety of books, booklets, articles, and catalogues authored or edited by him during his career as an art curator and gallery director up to that point.

Career

He was an education officer at the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

in 1971 and 1972. He was director of the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery from 1973 to 1980, a position previously held by the founding director of the NGA,

James Mollison James Mollison (20 March 1931 – 19 January 2020) was acting director of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) from 1971 to 1977 and director from 1977 to 1989. He was director of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1989 to 1995. Ea ...

. From 1980 to 1988 he was curator of European and Australian Paintings and Sculpture at the Art Gallery of South Australia. As director between 1990 and 2004, he built up the collection of

Australian art Australian art is a broad spectrum of art created in or about Australia, or by Australians overseas, spanning from Prehistory of Australia, prehistoric times to the present day. The art forms include, but are not limited to, Indigenous Australi ...

, particularly from the Colonial period, developed a strong holding in Asian art and expanded the Renaissance collection. Radford was appointed director of the NGA in 2004, his term starting on 20 December. He announced his intention to lend out

Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

(European art, prior to the 19th century) for long-term display to state galleries. He considers the collection of less than 30 paintings, put together by Mollison to give context to the modern collection, as too small to make any impact on the public. He has been quoted as saying that the gallery should concentrate on its strengths—European Art of the first half of the 20th century, 20th-century American art, photography, Asian art and the 20th-century drawing collection, and to fill the gaps in the Australian collection. He retired in September 2014.

Other activities

Radford served on many boards and committees, including the

Australia Council Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

(chairing its Visual Arts/Craft Board from 1997 to 2002). He was a founding member of the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

's board from 1997 to 2005. In 2012, he was a trustee of the Gordon Darling Foundation, a member of the Board of Art Exhibitions Australia, a director of the Bundanon Trust, and a member of the Australia International Cultural Council. He was also an affiliate professor of the

Recognition and honours

Radford was awarded a

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

as well as other fellowships to the

Yale Center for British Art The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare ...

and the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...

San Marino, California San Marino is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2020 United States census the population was 12,513, a decline from the 2010 United States census. History Origin of name Th ...

. The historic Ordnance Store building at AGSA, now an historical museum for the display of early South Australian paintings and objects, was later renamed the Radford Auditorium. Other honours awarded to Radford include: *2001:

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

*2003:

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

*2007:

Honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

*2009:

Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

, for his contributions to the arts *2012?: Honorary doctorate,

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

, "in recognition of his significant contributions to the art community in South Australia and nationally" *2015: Honorary doctorate,

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

, "for service to arts administration, particularly as Director of the National Gallery of Australia and by initiating appreciation of Australian artists and their work within the community"

Publications

Radford has written a number of books on art, mainly exhibition guides, including:Publications

* ''Recent Aboriginal Painting incorporating the Maude Vizard-Wholohan Prize Purchase Awards 1988, Art Gallery of South Australia (1988), * ''

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe i ...

'', Art Gallery of South Australia (1996) * ''The William Bowmore Collection: The Fine Art of Giving'', Art Gallery of South Australia (1999), * ''Our Country: Australian Federation Landscapes 1900-1914'', Art Gallery of South Australia (2001) * ''19th Century Australian Art - M.J.M. Carter Collection'', Art Gallery of South Australia (1993),

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radford, Ron Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian curators Directors of the National Gallery of Australia RMIT University alumni University of Melbourne alumni People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne Members of the Order of Australia Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from Warragul