Betty Churcher AO (1931–2015) was the director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997, and through her writing, leadership and curatorial work is held to have changed the way Australians look at art. Born and raised in Brisbane, she studied painting there before winning a scholarship that funded study in England at the South West Essex Technical School and the Royal College of Art. After returning to Brisbane, she worked as a high school art teacher. She studied art history at the Courtauld Institute in the mid-1970s, and from 1981 to 1987 taught at Melbourne’s Preston/Phillip Institute of Technology. In 1987 she was appointed director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, thus becoming the first female director of an Australian state gallery. After three years in Perth she moved to Canberra to become director of the Australian National Gallery – renamed the National Gallery of Australia during her tenure. Anne Zahalka's portrait of Churcher shows her in front of one of a pair of large marble vases by sculptor Jean-Baptiste Boudard titled Gran Vasi di Palazzo Ducale, Parma [Large vases from the Ducal Palace, Parma] c. 1765–68, purchased by the NGA in June 1991.
Gift of the artist 2021
© Anne Zahalka/Copyright Agency, 2024
Anne Zahalka (3 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Betty Churcher AO (1931–2015), gallery director, author, painter and lecturer, was educated in Brisbane before studying art in London.
31 March 2015
The National Portrait Gallery mourns the loss of our colleague and friend Betty Churcher, AO.
