Research Seminar: The forgotten Donald Brook: Sculptor of post-war humanism by Roger Benjamin

Powerful Ideas: New Research in Art History at the University of Sydney is convened by Mary Roberts and Nick Croggon and presented by the discipline of Art History at the University of Sydney, with support from the Power Institute. The seminar is a forum for the sharing of new ideas and research in art and visual culture. Seminars are free and open to all.

Thursday 10 September 2026 3-4..30pm AEST in the Schaeffer Library Seminar Room 210, Mills Building (A26), This research seminar series is also accessible via Zoom.

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A presentation on the little known sculptural work of Australian critic and theoretician Donald Brook.

Newspaper clipping from Donald Brook Papers, National Art Archive, AGNSW

Most Australians familiar with Brook's standing as an art critic, theoretician or philosopher do not know that his earlier life was spent as a professional sculptor in Britain, and that he had a vigorous practice after arriving in Canberra to do his PhD on the aesthetics of sculpture. In 1966 in Canberra he exhibited 24 “Serious Games in Relief”, and in 1967 held a major exhibition at Gallery A (Sydney and Melbourne branches). This freestanding work was favourably received by leading critics and purchased by the likes of James Fairfax (Sydney Morning Herald owner) and Zara Holt (designer and the Prime Minister’s wife). However upon moving his family to Sydney in 1968 to take up his lectureship at the Power Institute and become art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, Brook's sculptural practice ceased entirely. The next year he could say, “My taste has outgrown my own product”. 

People

Roger Benjamin

Roger Benjamin is Emeritus Professor Art History at the University of Sydney. He has written widely on French Orientalist art, Henri Matisse, and Australian art. This new work is an offshoot of his 2023 book Growing up Modern: Canberra’s Round House and Alex Jelinek (Halstead Press).