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Title

The artist and his model

1938

Artist

Grace Crowley

Australia

28 May 1890 – 21 Apr 1979

Artist profile

Alternate image of The artist and his model by Grace Crowley

  • Details

    Place where the work was made
    Sydney → New South Wales → Australia
    Date
    1938
    Media category
    Painting
    Materials used
    oil on hardboard
    Dimensions
    86.0 x 54.0 cm board; 98.5 x 67.0 x 2.4 cm frame
    Signature & date

    Signed and dated l.r. corner, black oil "GRACE CROWLEY/ -/38".

    Credit
    Gift of the artist 1975
    Location
    Not on display
    Accession number
    61.1975
    Copyright
    © Reproduced with permission of Grace Crowley Estate

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    Artist information
    Grace Crowley

    Artist profile

    Works in the collection

    32

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  • About

    The subject of Grace Crowley’s work is fellow artist Ralph Balson, painting a model on the roof terrace of Crowley’s studio in George Street, Sydney. Influenced by the cubist theories of French artist André Lhote, whose teaching emphasised the importance of subsuming colour into geometric structure, 'The artist and his model' reveals a disintegration of figurative forms and division of the pictorial space into decorative areas. It also signalled a growing commitment, shared by both artists, to complete abstraction.

    In 1939, Crowley and Balson took part in the important 'Exhibition I' at David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney. With other participating artists – including Rah Fizelle, Frank Hinder and Eleonore Lange – Balson and Crowley collaborated in the 1930s as leaders of the second phase of the modern movement in Australia, developing the earlier ideas of Roland Wakelin, Roy de Maistre and others that dated from the beginning of World War I.

  • Places

    Where the work was made

    Sydney

  • Exhibition history

    Shown in 9 exhibitions

  • Bibliography

    Referenced in 10 publications

Other works by Grace Crowley

See all 32 works