Hegel's Owl: The Life of Bernard Smith

‘An elegant and powerful study, finely crafted – fully worthy of its subject.' - Peter Beilharz, Curtin University, Perth

Bernard Smith began life as a ward of the State; he would go on to become the father of Australian art history. In 2008 Smith invited writer and art historian Dr Sheridan Palmer to write his biography. Through years of interviews and exclusive access to Smith's papers and library, Palmer reveals the unique character of an exceptional man.

"Bernard Smith was undoubtedly Australia's greatest art historian and arguably Australia's greatest humanities scholar altogether. His European Vision already contains within it all subsequent approaches to Australian art and culture: post-colonial, post-modern, post-national. Sheridan Palmer's superb biography is detailed, inclusive and at times even properly critical. It not only captures a major figure from our past but, just as importantly, points towards the possible fate of his ideas in the future." - Rex Butler, author of A Secret History of Australian Art

"A terrific book which paints the shades of Smith's interior and exterior worlds and brings to life a brilliant and pioneering Australian intellectual." - Jos Hackforth-Jones, director, Sotheby's Institute