Deep water, Bobbin Head c.1942 is a work that held special meaning for modernist Grace Cossington Smith, the artist captures the landscape at Bobbin Head, near her North Sydney home, in broad brushstrokes and iridescent colour. Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) became one of Australia’s most celebrated modernists, renowned for her iconic cityscapes and luminous interiors,…
Grace Cossington Smith’s artworks are a reminder that joy is all around us. In her hands, an array of objects, the fold of a tablecloth or light falling through stained glass inspire delight and open windows onto her world. In this time of social distancing and self-isolation, it can be challenging to resist the feeling…
Church interior c.1941-42 is one of Grace Cossington Smith’s most significant achievements, incorporating her major stylistic approaches and interests. It is also meaningful in terms of the artist’s personal history, as it depicts the Smith family’s place of worship, the new St James’ Anglican Church in Turramurra, Sydney, built in 1941. The painting encapsulates the…
Continue reading » “Church interior: An uplifting vision of everyday life”
Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) was one of the most inventive colour painters to emerge from Australia’s first wave of modernism in the early decades of the twentieth century. After growing up in Sydney’s northern suburbs, in 1914 Cossington Smith moved with her family to the Turramurra residence that would become her lifelong home and the…
Continue reading » “Inventive colour: The art of Grace Cossington Smith”
Celebrating the work of three pioneering artists who made distinguished contributions to the development of international modernism. All born in the late nineteenth century, American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and Australian artists Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith came of age during the 1910s and ’20s, decades of great social and cultural transition. While they were…
Continue reading » “O’Keeffe, Preston, and Cossington Smith”
Even though they did not discuss their work with each other, North American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) and Australians Margaret Preston (1875–1963) and Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) shared a passionate curiosity for the natural world, and each worked within the emerging transcultural discourse of Modernism. Their respective early training in traditional representational techniques gave way…
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art stands and recognise the creative contribution First Australians make to the art and culture of this country.