Friends of the South Australian School of Art Inc.

about the forthcoming fsasa publication . . .

sOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL OF ART: 170 YEARS SHAPING SOUTH AUSTRALIAN VISUAL ARTS & CULTURE

INTRODUCTION

This is the story of the ways in which the South Australian School of Art, as the first and oldest continuously operating art school in Australia, has shaped this state’s visual arts & culture over the past one hundred and fifty years. Initiated in 1856, by the Society of Arts as Adelaide’s School of Design, it was a product of concerned individuals who wanted to better develop taste and an appreciation of beauty as civilizing activities with moral, social, and behavioral dimensions. Now incorporated within UniSA Creative and located at the University’s City West campus, the School continues to influence and reflect the major artistic, social, technological and cultural movements that have occurred within and beyond South Australia.

Over the almost 170 years since it first opened its doors to students in September 1861, the School has educated, graduated, and employed thousands of artists, designers, teachers, curators, critics, scholars, and others pursuing significant creative careers. Importantly, and for the first time, this history profiles many of these individuals as they actively participated in South Australian and wider Australian society through countless art exhibitions and cultural events, launched new galleries and public forums, guided government policy and nurtured creativity across many generations. Significantly, these profiles are not presented in isolation, rather they are set against a context of Australian, particularly South Australian, artistic, social, political, and cultural life.

This history also focuses on the ways in which the School adopted and adapted from current and past trends in art and design education. In the early to mid-1880s, when the School was located in the Institute Building on Adelaide’s North Terrace, its teaching methods were largely based on those practiced in Britain, which involved copying from two and three-dimensional objects: historical ornament and plaster casts. From 1891, when the School moved further down North Terrace to the Exhibition Building, the focus was on training artisans for industry and commerce as opposed to a ‘fine art’ or ‘beaux-arts’ approach, and on training teachers in the art of drawing. During and after World War 1, the School adopted more of an arts and crafts approach with an added emphasis on Australiana.

Importantly, a developing interest in Modernism in the 1930s, particularly as a result of influential women artists who were teachers at the School, led to the formation of the Contemporary Art Society which was to become highly influential in Adelaide’s art scene in later decades. The School’s move in the early 1960s to a purpose-built building in North Adelaide, the addition of new staff with international experience as artists, the influence of key individuals and the changing national and international art scenes, all served as stimuli for both staff and students. The School’s reputation soared such that it led to the common perception that the School was ‘arguably the best art school in the country’. The highly prestigious Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, first introduced in 1993, comes as a legacy from this era.

In 1980, as part of Torrens College of Advanced Education, the School relocated to its new campus in suburban Underdale. There, both staff and students worked to respond to the complexities of Australia’s late twentieth century conditions by exploring issues and concerns such as those relating to cultural identity, racial, feminist, environmental and ecological concerns, multiculturalism and the impact of new technologies on artistic practice. They also sought to interpret the avant-garde, postmodern and post-structuralist theories that were being explored through new writing and public discourse.

In 1991, the School became part of the University of South Australia which saw it return to the heart of the city’s cultural precinct to be relocated in purpose-built, award-winning buildings at the University of South Australia’s City West campus. Here, as part of UniSA’s Creative unit, the School continues to provide students with unique opportunities to work both within and across disciplines that form the basis for contemporary art education.

The significant contribution that historically important graduates have made to the South Australian visual arts and cultural community, has been acknowledged by the University of South Australia through the naming of its Sir Hans Heysen, Barbara Hanrahan, Dorrit Black, and Jeffrey Smart buildings. The work of more contemporary graduates from the School and the ever-growing list of Samstag Alumni continue to add to the reputation of the South Australian School of Art as one of the foremost schools of art in Australia.

Dr Jenny Aland PSM
Adjunct Research Fellow, UniSA Creative: South Australian School of Art
Board Member, Friends of the South Australian School of Art Inc.
May 2023