Betty Churcher

Elizabeth Ann Dewar Churcher (née Cameron; 11 January 193131 March 2015) was an Australian arts administrator, best known as director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997. She was also a painter in her own right earlier in her life.

Early life and education Elizabeth Cameron was born on 11 January 1931 in Brisbane. From age 7 to 15 she attended Somerville House school, paid for by her grandmother. There she was taught art by Patricia Prentice. After leaving school, she studied under artist Caroline Barker.

Churcher won a Royal Queensland Art Society travelling scholarship to Europe and attended the Royal College of Art in London. She received a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, in 1977.

Career

In the years preceding the formation of the Queensland Branch of the Contemporary Art Society, Betty and her husband Roy Churcher involved a new group of people who were interested in contemporary art (in particular modernism) in Brisbane. (Roy was a key instigator of the establishment of the society, and became one of two inaugural vice-presidents when it was established in 1961.)

Between 1972 and 1975, Churcher was art critic for The Australian newspaper.

She was then appointed director of the Australian National Gallery. She hosted several television shows in the 1990s and authored several books, including The Art of War about war artists.

While director of the National Gallery, she was dubbed "Betty Blockbuster" because of her love of blockbuster exhibitions and for her love of movies. Churcher initiated the building of new galleries on the eastern side of the building, opened in March 1998, to house large-scale temporary exhibitions. She changed the name of the Gallery from the Australian National Gallery to its current title. During her tenure the museum also purchased Golden Summer, Eaglemont by Arthur Streeton for $3.5 million. This was the last great picture from the Heidelberg School still in private hands.

Churcher dedicated her time to displaying hidden artworks and lesser known acquisitions of the National Gallery of Australia in a television program called Hidden Treasures on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Davida Allen painted a portrait of her in 1990, titled Hey Betty.

In 2001, Churcher was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

Death and legacy Churcher died of cancer on 31 March 2015 at the age of 84.

Family Betty was married to Roy (1933–2014) and had four sons and seven grandchildren. One son is the artist Peter Churcher.