Ronald Warwick Radford was born in the Victorian Gippsland town of Warragul in 1949. He obtained his art diploma at RMIT where he majored in painting. His first employment in 1970 was as an education officer at the NGV. In 1973, he was employed as Director of Ballarat Regional Gallery and for the next seven years he curated and organised many original, scholarly exhibitions which explored aspects of Australian art history; one significant exhibition was Early Australian sculpture: from its beginning up to circa 1920. From 1980 through to 2004, he worked at the Art Gallery of South Australia; beginning as curator and then senior curator of Australian and European art. He was appointed as Director of AGSA in 1991 and continued for the next 13 years to curate significant exhibitions whilst also fund-raising and overseeing the expansion of the gallery itself. Under his jurisdiction, the gallery developed an outstanding collection of Australian art, particularly of the colonial period, Asian and also European renaissance collections. In 2005 he was appointed to his current position as Director of the National Gallery of Australia where he has overseen the design, development and opening of the new indigenous wing of the gallery and has continued to curate major exhibitions such as Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape 1850 -1950 and Renaissance 15th and 16th century Italian Paintings. He is currently working with the Royal Academy of Arts in London on a major exhibition of Australian painting, due to open at the RAA’s Burlington House premises in September 2013. In 2003 he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia and has honorary doctorate degrees from RMIT University and the University of South Australia. He was Commissioner for the 1999 Australian participation, Howard Arkley: The Home Show, at the Venice Biennale and occupies a number of honorary board and trustee positions. Radford is currently on his second contract as NGA Director which is due to expire at the end of 2014.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2013
© Richard Larter/Copyright Agency, 2021
Accession number: 2013.39
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Richard Larter (2 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Christopher Chapman describes the art and life of Australian artist Richard Larter.
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