National identity is an important factor for the writing of Australian history of the decades around Federation. While Britishness has understandably played a prominent role in explorations of these cultural negotiations, multiculturalism was just as important. ‘Teutonic’ culture was a significant component building block for an Australia transforming itself from colonial to commonwealth status. This seminar examines the complex contribution of German artistic migrants, and the reception and perception of German art amongst the wider White Settler community during a period of heightened Anglo-German diplomatic tension.

Matthew Potter is a Lecturer in Art History at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He completed his PhD in Art History at the Courtauld Institute and Birkbeck College, University of London and subsequently received a Menzies Centre Fellowship in 2009 to investigate the collecting of British Art in Australia. His book, The Inspirational Genius of Germany: British Art and Germanism, 1850-1939, will be published by Manchester University Press in 2012.