Guide to the Papers of Virginia Spate, 1840-2013

Summary

Collection number:

MS 10552

Creator:

Spate, Virginia

Extent:

(25 MS Boxes + 1 Archives Box + 1 Large Folio Box + 1 Map Folio + 1 Folder)

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Virginia Spate, National Library of Australia, MS 10552######, [class/series/file/item number(s)]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Permission required for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection comprises personal and business papers relating to Spate's career as art historian, academic, author and curator and includes correspondence, research files, family papers and juvenilia, book drafts, slides and posters.

Biographical / Historical:

Virginia Margaret Spate was born in Reading, England in 1937, the eldest child of Oskar and Daphne Spate (nee Huband). In 1938 Virginia travelled with her mother to Burma to join her father, who was teaching at the University of Rangoon. On the outbreak of war in the Pacific, Daphne and Virginia were evacuated to Fremantle, WA in 1942. In 1945 they sailed to the UK to rejoin Oskar. Virginia migrated with her parents to Australia in 1951 on Oskar Spate's appointment as Foundation Professor of Geography at the Australian National University. Virginia was educated at King Alfred school, north London and Canberra High School. Her BA (Hons) in History and Art History was taken at the University of Melbourne; her MA (1962) also awarded by Melbourne University for her thesis "Tom Roberts and Australian Impressionism". Her PhD (1970) was taken at Bryn Mawr College where she wrote a thesis on Orphism – the poetry and criticism of Apollinaire and the paintings of Kupka, Delaunay, Picabia and Leger.Virginia Spate returned to the UK in 1967, following time spent in France supported by a scholarship from Bryn Mawr. She taught English as a second language and art history for the Inner London Education Authority, then at the Bath Academy of Art, the Central School of Art and in 1970 was appointed a lecturer in the Department of Art History at Cambridge University. During this time, she organised two innovative exhibitions on Simultanism and L'esprit Nouveau for the Arts Council Kettle's Yard Gallery. In 1979 she took up the position of Professor in the Department of Fine Arts and Director of the Power Institute, at the University of Sydney. Spate retired from the University in 2003. During her time as Professor/Director of the Power Institute, the large collection of contemporary art purchased through the Power Bequest was transferred to the separate institution which became known as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, housed at The Rocks in the former Maritime Services building.Spate organised or contributed to a number of major exhibitions, notably The Revolutionary Decades: French Painting 1760-1830 (Sydney/Melbourne 1980-81) Dreams, Fears and Desires (Sydney 1984) Claude Monet, Painter of Light (Auckland/Sydney/Melbourne 1985-6); Monet and Japan (Canberra 2001). She also served on the Boards of the National Gallery of Australia and the Museum of Contemporary Art. As well as many book chapters and essays for exhibition catalogues, Virginia Spate's books include: John Olsen, Georgian House, 1963; Tom Roberts, Lansdowne 1978; Orphism: the evolution of non-figurative painting in Paris 1910-1914, Oxford University Press, 1977, The Colour of Time: Claude Monet, Thames Hudson, 1992, this latter being awarded the Mitchell Prize for Art History. Virginia Spate was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 1981. She was honoured with the award of a Centenary Medal in 2001, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2003 and Companion in Order of Australia 2018.

Arrangement:

Virginia Spate's papers were collected from her home (personal papers) and from Schaeffer Library at the Power Institute, University of Sydney (research files and other University material). It appears the original order of the latter files may not have been maintianed during the move from Professor Spate's former office to storage at the Library. There is some mixing of the personal and research papers and business and personal correspondence. Original file titles have been maintained. For other research files, only the title pages of photocopied published research resources have been retained, unless the photocopies had been annotated by Spate. Some correspondence was kept in chronological order, while other correspondence from individuals such as family members, were grouped together.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Literature
Arts
Academic

Conditions Governing Access:

Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn 4935005).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Virginia Spate, National Library of Australia, MS 10552######, [class/series/file/item number(s)]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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