Christopher Allen (born 1953)Christopher Allen papers, 1979–1998
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales is an Australian art historian, critic, and educator.

Biography

Born in Algiers to Australian parents, Allen was educated in the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Japan, France and Australia."Christopher Allen"
interview by Margaret Throsby,

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors a ...

, 18 April 2015 He graduated in 1975 from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in French (

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

, University Medal) and won a scholarship to study for his (

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

) at the University of Aix-en-Provence and the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

. Allen was the inaugural manager at the Performance Space in Redfern in 1983. In 1992 he completed his PhD 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 ...

. He was art critic for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' from 1987 until 1991 and for the '' Australian Financial Review'' from 2005 until 2008. Since 2008 he is the national 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 ...

''. Allen has taught art history and theory at the

National Art School The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

from 1997 until 2008. He is Senior Master in Academic Extension at Sydney Grammar School since 2009 and teaches

Classical Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and senior Art History. He was appointed to the Library Council of New South Wales (State Library) Board in 2019 for three-year term."Revised Boards announced for NSW Cultural Institutions"
Museums and Galleries of NSW, 6 December 2019 In his critiques of works and artists, Allen emphasises craftmanship, skill, and formal and aesthetic qualities. He deplores "bland, decorative surface and he points to "pseudo-political contemporary art", especially as expressed in the wall labels in museums. Large-scale portraits, as commonly submitted to 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, the editor ...

, are regular subjects of his criticism.

Personal life

Allen is the grandson of World War II Major General Arthur Samuel "Tubby" Allen, the son of Robert Allen and brother of writer, performer and filmmaker Richard James Allen. He is married to Australian painter Michelle Hiscock.

Publications

As author

*''La tradition du classicisme : essai sur la pratique et la théorie de la peinture classique de la Renaissance au dix-septième siècle français'', thesis University of Sydney (1991) *''Art in Australia: From Colonization to Postmodernism'' (Thames & Hudson, 1997) *''French Painting in the Golden Age'' (Thames & Hudson, 2003) *''Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy, De Arte Graphica'' (translation and commentary, Librairie Droz, Geneva 2005, with Yasmin Haskell, Frances Muecke), on Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy's ''De arte graphica''"Review of ''Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy, De Arte Graphica''"
by Giovanni Mazzaferro, Letteratura artistica, 14 June 2019 *"Jeffrey Smart: Unpublished Paintings 1940–2007", essay ( Philip Bacon Galleries, 2008) , on

Jeffrey Smart Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions". Smart was born and educated i ...

*''Salient: Contemporary Artists at the Western Front: 1918–2018 One Hundred Years On'' (King Street Gallery on William, 2018)

As editor/contributor

*''Richard Goodwin'', editor (Oliver Freeman Editions, 1992) , on Richard J. Goodwin *''Ari Purhonen'', editor (1992) *''Van Gogh: His Sources, Genius and Influence'' (1993) * * ''A Companion to Australian Art'', editor (Wiley-Blackwell, 2021),

References

External links

Articles by Christopher Allen
in ''

''
Articles by Christopher Allen
'' Australian Book Review'' *, arts.afterhours, 8 June 2010, Art Gallery of New South Wales {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Christopher 1953 births Living people University of New South Wales alumni Aix-Marseille University alumni Collège de France alumni University of Sydney alumni Australian art critics Australian art historians Australian art teachers Australian schoolteachers Classics educators The Australian journalists