Degenerates and Perverts: The 1939 Herald Exhibition

The 1939 Herald Exhibition of French and British Contemporary Art has been regarded as the single most enlivening event in Australia’s modern cultural development.

Opening when Australia was undergoing profound change, this exhibition became the focus for the opposing forces of cultural conservatism and innovation. Many competing claims about the exhibition will be examined – how it was displayed and the reception it received. This was a time when conservatives were accused of perverting progress and progressives were accused of degeneracy.

Steven Miller has worked in commercial and public galleries since the late 1980s and headed up the National Art Archive at the Art Gallery of NSW from 2009 to 2023.He has published widely on art. He co-authored a book on Australia’s first blockbuster exhibition of modern European masters, that won the NSW Premier’s History Award. Among his other publications is Awakening: Four lives in art – _exploring the creation of national identity through art published in 2015.