Anne Marie Brody

Anne Marie Brody’s curatorial career began in 1973 at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in the Department of Decorative Arts. In the late 1970s, her interests shifted to the arts of the southern hemisphere and she transferred to the NGV’s fledgling Tribal Art department. Supporting this new professional orientation with further study, in 1980 Anne gained an MSc in Social Anthropology (UCL) and became the first full-time curator of Aboriginal and Oceanic art in a state gallery. In this capacity, Anne curated two exhibitions, Kunwinjiku Bim: Western Arnhem Land Paintings (1984) and The Face of the Centre (1985), before accepting an invitation to join the Holmes à Court Collection in 1987. The following year, Anne took up the position of curator of this large and diverse collection. Within her field, a special collecting focus was Central Australia and the art of Utopia. She also mounted three major exhibitions, all of which toured nationally and internationally and were accompanied by publications: Contemporary Aboriginal Art (1990), Utopia: A Picture Story (1995) and Stories: 11 Aboriginal Artists (1995). In 1997 Anne became the Aboriginal art consultant to the Kerry Stokes Collection, and from 2000 to 2010 held the permanent position of Associate Curator.