Bill Boustead | |
|---|---|
 Bill Boustead Art Conservator | |
| Born | William Morris Boustead 3 January 1912 |
| Died | 15 October 1999 (aged 87) |
William Morris Boustead (3 January 1912 – 15 October 1999) was an Australian Art conservator. He was conservator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1954 until 1977.[1]
Biography
Boustead was born in Gloucester, New South Wales and educated at Fort Street High School.[2] His first job after leaving school was working in a metallurgical and chemical laboratory while studying at technical college.[1]
After spending most of the 1930s in the Pacific he served with the Royal Australian Engineers during World War II.[1] Following his discharge in 1945 Boustead began studying at the National Art School in Sydney.[1] In 1946 he was appointed to the conservation workshop of the Art Gallery of New South Wales then appointed as gallery conservator in 1954.[1]
Boustead's achievements during his time as conservator at the AGNSW included:
- Building the first vacuum hot table in Australia[1]
- Setting up the first program in Australia to train conservators[3][4]
- Regarded as the Grandfather of the Conservation Profession in Australia [5]
- Leading the Australian team as part of the International response to the flooding of Florence in 1966[1][6]
- Pioneering processes to conserve art works from tropical regions especially Bark Paintings[6][7]
- Performed the initial conservation assessment of Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles in 1974 following it's purchase by the Whitlam Government[8]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 National Newsletter Archived 22 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine AICCM December 1999
- ↑ "FORT STREET HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ALUMNI" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016.
- ↑ Understanding Museums – Conservation in Australian museums
- ↑ Collection Conservation National Gallery of Australia
- ↑ Lyall, Jan (June 2016). "Obituary for Colin Pearson". Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- 1 2 Bill Boustead Archived 26 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine National Library, Canberra
- ↑ Preserving Aboriginal Art Taylor & Francis Online
- ↑ "James Mollison and Peter Laverty watching conservator William Boustead examining 'Blue Poles' 1952 by Jackson Pollock 1974". Art Gallery of NSW. 28 November 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.