The rhetoric of the new: The Field and the foundations of an

institutional avant-garde in Australia

The Field was the first exhibition held at the new National Gallery of Victoria in
1968. The exhibition comprised seventy-four abstract paintings and sculptures from
forty young Australian contemporary artists. This exhibition established a new role
and identity for the art institution in Australia. After this exhibition, there were four
exhibitions linked to it—The Field Now, Field to Figuration, Fieldwork and Tackling
The Field—but none of them had the same impact as The Field.
This article clearly shows the context, content and critical views from others of
The Field, and notes that Two Decades of American Painting was the most important
precursor of The Field.
It is interesting to find the importance of catalogue’s essays in Australian art. The
catalogue in China did not acquire the same status as it did in Australia.