The Power Institute of Fine Arts is a teaching and research department, encompassing the fields of art history and theory, within the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. It was established from a bequest by artist

John Joseph Wardell Power John Joseph Wardell Power (12 October 1881 – 1 August 1943), often referred to as J. W. Power, was an Australian modernist artist who practised his art in England and Europe. The Power Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Sydney bears ...

(1881–1943).

Background

Founded in 1968, the institute was established out of a bequest from the expatriate Australian abstract artist John Wardell Power. The bequest provided for the establishment of a teaching department, a research library, and a gallery for contemporary exhibitions. John Joseph Wardell Power (often referred to as J. W. Power) is the man who established the legacy of the teaching department which turned into the Power Institute of Fine Arts. He was born in 1881 in Sydney and died in 1943 in

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. In 1905, after graduating from the University of Sydney with Bachelor of Medicine, Power went to London to continue with his medical studies. During the First World War, Power gained the rank of Captain when he served as a physician in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. After he gave up the medical field, he enrolled as an art student in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

The institute

The institute has been especially active in developing and promoting the study 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 ...

. Scholars associated with the Power Institute include

Donald Brook Donald Brook (8 January 1927 – 17 December 2018) was an Australian artist, art critic, philosopher, and theorist, whose research and publications centre on the philosophy of art, non-verbal representation and cultural evolution. He initiated ...

, Bernard Smith, Terry Smith,

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 ...

and Roger Benjamin. The institute funds the Schaeffer Fine Arts Library (formerly the Power Research Library, established in 1968). The library is closely associated with the Department of Art History at the University of Sydney and holds approximately 45,000 items including books, journals, video media and ephemera. The library also holds a collection of theses and essays donated by honours and higher-degree students since the establishment of the department. The Power Institute hosts and arranges national and international conferences and also funds publications through Power Publications.

References

External links

* Schools of the University of Sydney Art schools in Australia Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in Australia {{art-org-stub