Joan Kerr
| Joan Kerr | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Eleanor Joan Lyndon 21 February 1938 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 22 February 2004 (aged 66) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | art historian, preservationist, academic |
| Years active | 1960-2003 |
| Known for | Dictionary of Australian Artists |
Joan Kerr (1938-2004) was an Australian academic and cultural preservationist. Initially her interest was sparked in preserving the architectural heritage of Australia, but over time her interests spread to art history and Australian culture in general. She taught at many universities throughout the country and was involved in Historical Societies and Preservation Trusts in a variety of the territories. She wrote books on Australia's historic architecture, feminist artists, cartoonists and her major life work was producing the Dictionary of Australian Artists: Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870.
Eleanor Joan Lyndon was born on 21 February 1938 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was the eldest child of Edna and Bob Lyndon and had five siblings. In 1951, her parents returned to their native Queensland, where Lyndon attended school at Somerville House in Brisbane. She obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of Queensland in English literature and drama.
In 1957, Lyndon met James Semple Kerr and after a three-year courtship, they married on 30 November 1960 in Brisbane, moving to Sydney almost immediately. Jim worked for Qantas and Joan was employed as a junior reporter at the magazine Weekend. The couple had two children in Australia before moving to Switzerland in 1963. In 1966, her husband's career transferred them to London, and Kerr enrolled in a medieval art and architecture class at Courtauld Institute of Art. She earned a two-year diploma and attended evening lectures on art history at the Warburg Institute. Her biggest influence came from a class she enrolled both she and her husband in taught by Nikolaus Pevsner at Birkbeck College and which encouraged them both to devote their lives to architectural history and heritage conservation. Between 1968 and 1969, she returned to Australia and completed her Master of Arts at the University of Sydney.
After graduation, she was offered a position tutoring students at the Power Institute of Fine Arts, which she continued for the next 25 years. In 1974, both she and her husband enrolled in Doctorate courses at the University of York, but spent the first year of their degree program carrying out architectural fieldwork in Australia. Between August, 1975 and December 1977, the couple completed their PhDs in England and then returned that same month for James to take up a position at Australian Heritage Commission in Canberra. Joan applied for a job at the Australian National University (ANU) and was accepted as a tutor. As the job was not full-time, she continued to work in Sydney as well. One significant project during this time was a collaboration on the inaugural exhibition in 1979 at the Elizabeth Bay House.
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