Title
The Lacquer Room
1936
Artist
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Turramurra
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Sydney
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New South Wales
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Australia
- Date
- 1936
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on paperboard on plywood
- Dimensions
- 74.0 x 90.8 cm board; 87.0 x 104.0 x 3.9 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner, black ink "G Cossington Smith". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1967
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- OA10.1967
- Copyright
- © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
- Artist information
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Grace Cossington Smith
Works in the collection
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About
It was quite a surprise, I didn't know it was there, but I went down to get cup of tea … and found this lovely restaurant … I was struck by its colour and general design the moment I saw it … Scarlet, green and white held me spellbound...
Grace Cossington Smith, 1979
Inspired by the art deco designs and vivid colours of the David Jones department store cafe in Sydney, 'The Lacquer Room' embodies the modern inter-war urban experience. The rich red and scattered patterns of the chairs are contrasted with the gleaming green of the lacquered tables, set against the brightness of the walls and polished floors. Grace Cossington Smith’s bold approach to colour exudes a sense of celebrating the new, similar to the contemporary consumer culture epitomised by the department store.
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Places
Where the work was made
Turramurra
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Exhibition history
Shown in 13 exhibitions
Acquisitions 1967, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Mar 1968–01 Apr 1968
Australian women artists: one hundred years, 1840-1940, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 Oct 1975–02 Nov 1975
The great Australian art exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 17 May 1988–17 Jul 1988
The great Australian art exhibition, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 13 Aug 1988–25 Sep 1988
The great Australian art exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Oct 1988–27 Nov 1988
The great Australian art exhibition, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, 21 Dec 1988–05 Feb 1989
The great Australian art exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 01 Mar 1989–30 Apr 1989
The great Australian art exhibition, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 May 1989–16 Jul 1989
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan, 28 Apr 1992–28 Jun 1992
Two hundred years of Australian painting : Nature, people and art in the southern continent, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, 14 Jul 1992–06 Sep 1992
Australian Collection Focus: Grace Cossington Smith The lacquer room 1935-36, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Aug 1999–24 Oct 1999
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Modern Australian women: paintings and prints, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 24 Nov 2000–21 Feb 2001
Sydney studios, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 14 Aug 2004–26 Sep 2004
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 04 Mar 2005–13 Jun 2005
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 29 Jul 2005–09 Oct 2005
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 11 Feb 2006–30 Apr 2006
Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
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
Know My Name: Australian women artists, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 14 Sep 2020–04 Aug 2021
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 35 publications
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Christine Bates, Making art connections: Visual arts years 7 & 8, 'Lets make an artwork: Peeking into private worlds', pg. 38-39, North Ryde, 2010, 38 (colour illus.).
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Janine Burke, Australian women artists diary, Birchgrove, circa 1993, 45, 140 (colour illus.), 179. plate no. 68
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Diana Chase and Valerie Krantz, Grace Cossington Smith: a painter ahead of her time, Melbourne, 1993, 25 (colour illus.). Part of "Headliners" Series
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), Exhibitions events - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Aug 1999-Oct 1999, 12 (colour illus.).
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Prue Davidson, Limelight, 'A beautiful scene: Sydney's artists were both wild and creative in the 1940s', pg. 20-21, Sydney, Aug 2004, 20 (colour illus.).
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Laurie Duggan, Ghost nation: imagined space and Australian visual culture 1901-1939, 'Interiors', pg. 216-222, St. Lucia, 2001, 216, (illus.). reproduced between pages 136-137
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Deborah Edwards., Australian Collection Focus: Grace Cossington Smith The Lacquer Room 1935-36, 'Secular light and the curve of the chairs', Sydney, 1999, cover (colour illus.).
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Deborah Edwards and Vivienne Webb, Look, 'An icon of Sydney modernism', pg.18-19, Melbourne, Aug 1999, 18, 19 (colour illus.).
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Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Mosaic and figure', pg. 213-214, Sydney, 2000, 218 (colour illus.), 302.
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Sarah Engledow', The world of Thea Proctor, 'The world of Thea Proctor', pg. 16-84, Canberra, 2005, 62, 63 (colour illus.), 178.
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Deborah Hart, Grace Cossington Smith, 'A distinctive vision', pg. 26-55, Canberra, 2005, 36, 52-53, 105, 138 (colour illus.), 139-143, 178.
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Mervyn Horton (Editor), Art and Australia, Sydney, Mar 1967, 205 (illus.).
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Jane Hylton, Modern Australian women: paintings & prints 1925-1945, 'Individual streams: Margaret Preston, Thea Proctor, Grace Cossington Smith, Clarice Beckett', pg. 62-93, Adelaide, 2000, 69 (colour illus.), 80, 84, 126.
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Bruce James, Good Weekend, Sydney, 20 Jul 1996, 8, 22.
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 144 (colour illus.).
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Bruce James, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'Writing colour: from Mrs van Gogh to Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 34-37, Sydney, 2013, 34, 74, 98, 118, 140, 148, 151 (colour illus.), 316, 324.
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Heather Johnson, Aspects of Art Deco in Australia: Sunrise over the Pacific, 'Art Deco art', pg. 96-105, Sydney, 2001, 102, 103 (colour illus.). plate no. 118
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Joan Kerr (Editor), Heritage: The national women's art book, Sydney, 1995, 151 (colour illus.), 152. cat.no. 250
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Lauren Martin., The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Modern message from the extreme end of niceness', Sydney, 03 Mar 2005.
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Drusilla Modjeska, The Weekend Australian magazine, 'A woman's lot', pg. 22-25, Sydney, 21 Aug 1999-22 Aug 1999, 5 (colour illus.), 22 (colour illus.). The image appearing on page 5 is in detail.
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Drusilla Modjeska, Stravinsky's lunch, 'To Paint What She Saw: Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 203-334, Sydney, 1999, (colour illus.). plate no. 33
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National Gallery of South Australia, Modern Australian women: paintings and prints 1925-1945, Adelaide, 2000, (colour illus.). not paginated; 6-page fold-out brochure accompanying the exhibition
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Helen O'Neill, David Jones': 175 years, 'The art of David Jones', pg. 256-283, Sydney, 2013, 256, 257 (colour illus.).
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Boo Patrick, Look, 'Sydney students speak...about Sydney Moderns', pg. 26-27, Sydney, Mar 2014, 26.
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Barry Pearce and Haruo Arikawa, Two hundred years of Australian painting: nature, people and art in the southern continent, Tokyo, 1992, 102 (colour illus., detail), 126 (colour illus.). cat.no. 75
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Ursula Prunster, Aspects of Australian art, Sydney, 2000, (colour illus.). card no. 6: Grace Cossington Smith 'The lacquer room' circa 1935
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John Slater, Through artists' eyes: Australian suburbs and their cities 1919-1945, 'Continuity and change', pg. 35-70, Melbourne, 2004, 42, 113 (colour illus.), 114-115. illus.no. 97
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Bernard William Smith, The formalesque: a guide to modern art and its history, South Yarra, 2007, 90 (colour illus.).
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Catherine Stuart and Paul Finucane, Odd roads to be walking: 156 women who shaped Australian art, Cork, 2019, 157 (colour illus.).
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Daniel Thomas, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 510-521, Sydney, Jan 1970, 517, 520 (illus.), 521.
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Daniel Thomas, Creating Australia: 200 years of art 1788-1988, 'Colour-Worship', pg.174-175, Melbourne, 1988, 9, 174-175, 175 (colour illus.), 239, 247.
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Daniel Thomas, Art and Australia, 'Australian collection', pg. 52-62, Sydney, Jul 1972, 55 (colour illus.).
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Daniel Thomas, Symposium papers: Colour in art - revisiting 1919 & R-Balson, 'Modern Australia: Colour in art 1910s-1950s', pg. 3-11, Sydney, 2008, 8, 11.
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Judith White (Editor), Look, 'September events for members 1999', pg. 24-25, Melbourne, Sep 1999, 24.
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Author Unknown, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Australia, 1994, 307 (illus.).
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