Title

Building the Harbour Bridge IV: the ants' progress, November 1929

1929

Artist

Jessie Traill

Australia

29 Jul 1881 – 15 May 1967

Artist profile

Details

Other Titles

Sydney Bridge IV: The ants' progress, November 1929
Building the Harbour Bridge IV: the ant's progress

Place where the work was made

Sydney → New South Wales → Australia

Date

1929

Media category

Print

Materials used

etching with foul biting, printed in brown ink on cream wove paper

Edition

2/25

Dimensions

39.8 x 25.2 cm platemark; 49.0 x 33.6 cm sheet

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. beneath platemark, pencil "JCA Traill 1929".

Credit

Purchased 1975

Location

Not on display

Accession number

201.1975

Copyright

© Estate of Jessie Traill/Copyright Agency
Reproduction requests

Artist information

Jessie Traill
Artist profile

Works in the collection

23

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About

The Gallery has the complete set of Jessie Traill's celebrated series of etchings depicting the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed in the years 1927 to 1931. Traill's interest in this complex engineering feat was shared by a number of artists, including her close contemporary Grace Cossington Smith, attesting to the central place the construction of the bridge had in the life of the city.

Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
Places

Where the work was made

Sydney
Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
- Observing Sydney - Views of and from Observatory Hill, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 07 May 1993–13 Jun 1993
- Australian prints from the Gallery's collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Nov 1998–07 Feb 1999
- Metropolis, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 18 Dec 1999–02 Apr 2000
- Bridging Sydney, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 16 Dec 2006–29 Apr 2007
- Stars in the river; the prints of Jessie Traill, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 16 Feb 2013–23 Jun 2013
- Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
Bibliography
Referenced in 15 publications
- Deborah Edwards and Denise Mimmocchi, Look, 'Sydney Moderns', pg. 24-28, Sydney, Jun 2013, 24 (colour illus.).
- Peter Emmett, Metropolis, Glebe, 1999. Exhibition guide, brochure format.
- Peter Emmett, Sydney: metropolis, suburb, harbour, 'Metropolis', pg. 13-70, Glebe, 2000, 49-50 (colour illus.).
- Sasha Grishin, Australian art: a history, 'Art of federation in print', pg. 186-195, Carlton, 2013, 195 (colour illus.), 549, 569. not AGNSW impression; plate no. 19.8
- Deborah Hart, Australia, 'Australian landscape: pathways into the modern world 1920-50', pg. 184-225, London, 2013, 201 (colour illus.). cat.no. 133; not an AGNSW impression
- Jane Hylton, Modern Australian women: paintings & prints 1925-1945, Adelaide, 2000, 26 (colour illus.), 127. Collection of Art Gallery of South Australia
- Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 182-197, Sydney, 1999, 193 (colour illus.).
- Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian prints from the Gallery's collection, 'Introduction', pg. 8-13, Sydney, 1998, 11 (colour illus.), 44 (colour illus.). cat.no. 30
- Caroline Mackaness, Bridging Sydney, Sydney, 2006, 207 (colour illus.).
- Ewen McDonald, AGNSW Collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 36 (colour illus.), 37.
- Denise Mimmocchi, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'Icon of modernity: the Sydney Harbour Bridge', pg. 154-163, Sydney, 2013, 161 (colour illus.), 316, 324.
- Macushla Robinson, Stars in the river: the prints of Jessie Traill, 'Building the Harbour Bridge series', pg. 52-61, Canberra, 2013, 9, 58 (illus.), 59, 107, 115 (illus.), 146, 171 (illus.). NOTE: The text on page 107 speaks generally about Traill's Sydney Harbour Bridge works. 'Building the Harbour Bridge' series is specifically discussed on pages 56-60.
- Anne Ryan, Australian etchings and engravings 1880s–1930s from the Gallery's collection, Sydney, 2007, 48 (colour illus.). cat.no. 68
- John Slater, Through artists' eyes: Australian suburbs and their cities 1919-1945, 'Continuity and change', pg. 35-70, Melbourne, 2004, 59-60, 63, 74 (illus.). illus.no. 55
- Susannah Smith, Look, 'Women's work: their diverse and significant contribution to the modernist art scene', pg. 13-15, Sydney, Aug 2013, 14.