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Details
- Date
- 1956
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 121.9 x 91.5 cm board; 138.3 x 108.1 x 4.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.l. corner, black oil "G. Cossington Smith 56".
Signed u.l. corner verso on board, pen and black ink on white adhered label ".../ Grace Cossington Smith".- Credit
- Gift of Graham and Judy Martin 2014, assisted by the Australian Masterpiece Fund
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 607.2014
- Copyright
- © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
- Artist information
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Grace Cossington Smith
Works in the collection
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About
From the late 1950s Cossington Smith embarked on her last series of paintings whose subjects were drawn from the rooms and spaces around her home. With their mosaic-like surface of broken brushwork evoking a sense of light radiating through colour, Cossington Smith transformed her unassuming subject matter into sites of extraordinary energy and majestic form. These paintings became her crowning achievement and sealed her reputation as one of Australia's greatest colourists.
In this work her technique is at its most assured. She combines, in small dabs of unblended colour, richly saturated hues of greens, yellows, blues and reds. Setting her subject in a tilted compositional frame there is a strong feel for an intensely personalised portrayal of the world as seen through the domestic interior.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 9 exhibitions
Society of Artists Spring Exhibition (1957), Education Department Gallery [Loftus Street], Sydney, 14 Aug 1957–31 Aug 1957
Recent Australian paintings (1958), Farmer's Blaxland Gallery, Sydney, 1958–1958
Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Jun 1973–15 Jul 1973
Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 06 Sep 1973–04 Oct 1973
Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74), Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth, 06 Dec 1973–02 Jan 1974
Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 11 Jan 1974–10 Feb 1974
Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74), National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 26 Mar 1974–28 Apr 1974
A tribute to Grace Cossington Smith, St James Turramurra, Turramurra, 21 Nov 1975–23 Nov 1975
Autumn exhibition 1978: recent acquisitions, Joseph Brown Gallery, Australia, 07 Apr 1978–20 Apr 1978
Sotheby's: Important Australian & international art, Intercontinental Sydney, Sydney, 25 Nov 2014–25 Nov 2014
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 12 Oct 2016–19 Feb 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 11 Mar 2017–11 Jun 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jul 2017–02 Oct 2017
Matisse Alive, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 Oct 2021–03 Apr 2022
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 9 publications
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Bruce Adams, Grace Cossington Smith, 'Interior in yellow: 1951-1971', pg. 133-155, Sydney, 1990, 142 (colour illus.), 188. plate no. 101
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Bruce Adams, Hemisphere: An Asian-Australian Monthly, 'Innovator in a garden studio', pg. 2-8, Sydney, Jun 1973, 4, 5 (colour illus.).
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Michael Brand, Look, 'From the Gallery director', pg. 11, Sydney, May 2015, 11, 26, 27 (colour illus.), 28.
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Farmer's Blaxland Gallery, Farmer's Blaxland Gallery: Recent Australian Paintings, 'Catalogue', pg. 1-8, Australia, 1958, n.pag.. cat.no. 22; priced 70 guineas
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Society of Artists, Society of Artists: Spring Exhibition 1957, 'Catalogue', pg. 19-22, Sydney, 1957, 19. cat.no. 14; priced 70 guineas
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Sotheby's Australia (Editor), Sotheby's Australia, Important Australian and International Art, Sydney, Nov 2014, 34, 35 (colour illus.), 36, 37. lot no. 14; estimated price $250,000- 350,000
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St James Turramurra, A tribute to Grace Cossington Smith, 'Catalogue', Turramurra, Nov 1975, n.pag.. cat.no. 22
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Daniel Thomas, Grace Cossington Smith, 'Illustrations', pg. 13-, Sydney, 1973, 55 (illus.), 67. cat.no. 68
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Author Unknown, Autumn Exhibition (Joseph Brown Gallery 1979), 'Catalogue', Melbourne, Apr 1979, 85 (colour illus.). cat.no. 85
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