Gerard Vaughan appointed Professorial Fellow
The University of Melbourne has announced today that the outgoing director of the National Gallery of Victoria, Dr Gerard Vaughan, has been appointed to a new post at the University of Melbourne, the Gerry Higgins Professorial Fellowship in Art History. The Fellowship has been created through the support of Mr Allan Myers AO QC.
Dr Vaughan is an almuni of Melbourne University, where he completed his Master’s thesis on French post-impressionism, and taught art history at before completing his doctorate at Oxford University.
Dr Vaughan said “I look forward to returning to teaching and research, and this will provide me with a great opportunity to pursue projects in areas of art history to which I am committed. In particular, I will be undertaking a major project to research and document the history of private art collecting, taste and patronage in Australia, and its dovetail with institutional collecting.”
The Fellowship is the fourth academic position at the University named to honour Gerry Higgins, who emigrated from Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Ireland in 1949 and established Higgins Coatings, a successful commercial painting business, in Melbourne. University scholarships and academic posts in philosophy, medieval art history and Irish studies also honour Mr Higgins. These have been made possible thanks to the generous philanthropic support of Mr Allan Myers AO QC, Mrs Maria J Myers AO and Mr John C Higgins, son of Mr Gerry Higgins.
More detail on the Melbourne University website
