Title
The sock knitter
(1915)
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
- (1915)
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 61.8 x 51.2 x 1.7 cm stretcher; 77.2 x 66.0 x 6.4 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner, red oil "G.C.Smith". Not dated.
Signed and dated top c. verso on canvas, pen and black ink "... 1914-1918/ G. Cossington Smith".- Credit
- Purchased 1960
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- OA18.1960
- Copyright
- © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
- Artist information
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Grace Cossington Smith
Works in the collection
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About
Grace Cossington Smith's 'The sock knitter' has been acclaimed as the first post-impressionist painting to be exhibited in Australia. A remarkable student work, the painting signalled a challenge to the artistic traditions of the time. The extreme flattening of the picture plane and the use of bright, expressive, broken colour applied in broad brush-strokes to delineate form reflects the aesthetic concerns of European painters such as Cézanne, Matisse and van Gogh.
The subject of the painting is Madge, the artist's sister, knitting socks for soldiers serving on the frontline in World War I. Distinctly modern in its outlook, 'The sock knitter' counterpoints the usual narratives of masculine heroism in wartime by focusing instead on the quiet steady efforts of the woman at home.
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Places
Where the work was made
Turramurra
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Exhibition history
Shown in 14 exhibitions
Thirty-sixth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (1915), Exhibition Gallery Department of Public Instruction, Sydney, Oct 1915 -
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1960, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Mar 1961–23 Apr 1961
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
Project 21 - Womens images of women (1977), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Oct 1977–13 Nov 1977
Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara series from the collection of CRA Limited, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, , 04 Oct 1985–06 Nov 1985
Australian Painters Seeing Cézanne, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 28 Nov 1998–17 Jan 1999
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
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
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
Follow the Flag: Australian artists at war 1914-1945, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 24 Apr 2015–16 Aug 2015
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 54 publications
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Jude Adams, Barbara Hall and Jennifer Barber, Project 21: Women's images of women, Sydney, 1977, (illus.). cat.no. 40; Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
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Mark Anderson and Paul Ashton, Australian history and citizenship, 'Australia and World War I', pg. 70-103, South Yarra, 2000, 84 (colour illus.). source 2.27; NSW Secondary School History syllabus
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art from Australia: 2016 calender, Sydney, 2015, n.pag. (colour illus.). month of August
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Dr Joseph Brown (Editor), The CBUS collection of Australian art, Melbourne, 2009, 67.
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Marcia Cameron, Living stones: St Swithun's Pymble 1901 - 2001, Wahroonga, 2001, 42 (illus.).
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Betty Churcher, Australian notebooks, 'Art Gallery of New South Wales', pg. 45-90, Melbourne, 2014, front cover (colour illus., detail), 70, 71 (colour illus.), 255.
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Jonathan Cooper (Editor), Exhibitions events - Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 1998-Jan 1999, back (colour illus.).
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Jackie de Diana, Look, 'Art and Australia: More views of European preludes and parallels', pg. 16-17, Sydney, Nov 2010, 16.
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Mary Eagle, Australian Modern Painting Between the Wars 1914-1939, 'Light in Sydney', pg. 30-41, Sydney, 1989, 32.
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Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Moderns', pg. 103-104, Sydney, 2000, 103-104, 113, 302.
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Stephen Farthing (Editor), 1001 paintings you must see before you die, London, 2007, (colour illus.).
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Joanna Gilmour, Portrait profile: Grace Cossington Smith, 'Portrait profile', pg. 2-7, Canberra, 2009, 3 (colour illus.).
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Anne Gray, Grace Cossington Smith, 'The sock knitter', pg. 118-121, Canberra, 2005, 12 (colour illus.), 24, 118 (colour illus.), 92, 95, 103, 119-121, 123, 127, 174.
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Sasha Grishin, Australian art: a history, 'The shock of early modernism', pg. 206-217, Carlton, 2013, 210 (colour illus.), 211, 549, 558. plate no. 21.3
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Lelsey Harding, Art and Australia (Vol. 36, No. 4), 'Tempe Manning: the lost modernist', pg. 532-537, Sydney, 1999, 532 (colour illus.).
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Lesley Harding, Cubism & Australian art, 'L'Esprit Nouveau 1913-1929', pg. 19-47, Melbourne, 2009, 25 (colour illus.).
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Deborah Hart, Look, 'Grace Cossington Smith: looking bakc at a life of colour and light', pg. 28-31, Sydney, Nov 2005, 28.
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Dr Deborah Hart, Symposium papers: Colour in art - revisiting 1919 & R-Balson, 'Beatrice Irwin and Grace Cossington Smith: women on the wings of colour in art', pg. 17-22, Sydney, 2008, 18-19.
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Bruce James, Grace Cossington Smith, 'The knitter', pg. 26-36, Sydney, 1990, 30, 31 (colour illus.), 32-36, 38, 41, 48, 161. plate no. 4
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 132 (colour illus.).
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Bruce James, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'In the shadow of the master', pg. 3, Sydney, 28 Nov 1998, 3. This appears in the Sprectrum section of the newspaper.
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Bruce James, Good Weekend, Sydney, 20 Jul 1996, 8,22.
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Bruce James, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 40-51, Sydney, 2000, 42.
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Richard Linden, Australia's best painters: Tom Roberts, Hugh Ramsay and Thea Proctor, Port Melbourne, 1997, 8, 28, 38.
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Susan McCulloch, Alan McCulloch and Emily McCulloch Childs, The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art, ‘Australian art and artists’, pg. 190-199, Carlton, 2006, 194.
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Jenny McFarlane, Concerning the Spiritual: The influence of the Theosophical Society on Australian Artists 1890-1934, 'Science versus Spirit: Colour-Music in Sydney', pg. 122-153, North Melbourne, 2012, 144.
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Jenny McFarlane, Art and Australia (Vol. 43, No. 2), 'Grace Cossington Smith: a golden thread running through time', pg. 171-172, Sydney, Dec 2005-Feb 2006, 171.
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Hal Missingham, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Acquisitions for 1960', pg. 58-67, Sydney, Apr 1961, 58, 61 (illus.).
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Drusilla Modjeska, Brought to Light: Australian Art 1850–1965 from the Queensland Art Gallery collection, 'A Singular Portrait. Grace Cossington Smith Portrait of a man', pg. 120-123, Brisbane, 1998, 120, 122 (illus.), 123.
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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. 17
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Drusilla Modjeska, The Weekend Australian magazine, 'A woman's lot', pg. 22-25, Sydney, 21 Aug 1999-22 Aug 1999, 23 (colour illus.).
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Barry Pearce and Patrick McCaughey, Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara Series, Tokyo, 1985, 20 (colour illus.). cat.no. 5
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Barry Pearce, The Weekend Australian, 'Time makes its judgment', pg. 2-3, Sydney, 12 Aug 2000-13 Aug 2000, 2 (colour illus.). This colour supplement is a 'Review Special' published for the 'Weekend Australian'. It consists of a four-page, colour wrap-around for the 'Weekend Australian Review'. 'The Australian' was the media sponsor for the AGNSW Exhibition 'Australian Icons', for the Olympic Arts Festival 2000.
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Ursula Prunster, Classic Cézanne, 'Seeing Cézanne: Australian affinities', pg. 61-71, Sydney, 1998, 62, 64 (colour illus.). figure no. 27
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Ursula Prunster, Australian painters; Seeing Cézanne, 'Modernism arrives', pg. 5-6, Sydney, 1998, 6, 17 (colour illus.), 31. cat.no. 35
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Ursula Prunster, Look, 'Australian Painters: Seeing Cézanne', pg. 20-21, Heidelberg, Nov 1998, 20 (colour illus.).
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Roslyn Russell and Bridget Guthrie (Curators), The view from 1919: a century of the Tamworth Regional Gallery collection, 'Women and modernism', pg. 20-23, Tamworth, 2019, 20.
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Bernard William Smith and Terry Smith, Australian painting 1788-1990, 'Leviticus 1913-32', pg. 167-204, South Melbourne, 1991, 173, 185 (colour illus.). plate no. 106
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Susannah Smith, Look, 'Women's work: their diverse and significant contribution to the modernist art scene', pg. 13-15, Sydney, Aug 2013, 14.
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Virginia Spate, Art Monthly Australia, 'Amazing Grace: Thoughts inspired by the Grace Cossington Smith exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra', pg. 22-30, Canberra, Aug 2005, 22 (colour illus.), 23-24.
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Catherine Speck, Painting ghosts: Australian women artists in wartime, Melbourne, 2004, 55 (colour illus.), 56, 229. illus.no. 24
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Catherine Speck, Beyond the battlefield: Women artists of the two world wars, London, 2014, 49,50, 51 (colour illus.), 278.
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Peter Stanley, Digger Smith and Australia's Great War: ordinary name--extraordinary stories, 'The Smiths at home', pg. 82-93, Sydney, 2011, 85 (colour illus.), 358.
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Jean Stewart, Scribblers: a ladies literary society in Brisbane 1911, 'Highly achieving women', pg. 10-17, Kenmore, 2007, 11 (colour illus.), 12.
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Daniel Thomas, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 510-521, Sydney, Jan 1970, 511 (illus.), 512.
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Daniel Thomas, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'Foreword', pg. 11-12, Sydney, 2013, 11, 29 (colour illus.), 315.
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Diana Thomas, Texts and textiles: Affect, synaesthesia and metaphor in fiction, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016, 119 (illus.).
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Richard Travers, To paint a war: The lives of the Australian artists who painted the Great War, 1914-1918, Port Melbourne, 2017, 152 (colour illus.).
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Roland Wakelin, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly, 'Post Impressionism in Sydney: Some personal recollections', pg. 91-95, Sydney, Jan 1962, 91.
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Anthony White, The Cambridge companion to Australian Art, 'Foreign natives: Australian Modernism 1915-1955', pg. 109-121, Port Melbourne, 2011, 110, 353. fig.no. 9.1 (colour illus.), between pg. 124 and 125.
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Judith White, Look, 'Life, love and the woman artist', pg. 22, Melbourne, Sep 1999, 22.
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Judith White, Look, 'Looking back at the AGNSW… when there was only one curator: Daniel Thomas in conversation with Steven Miller' edited, pg. 31-34, Sydney, Dec 2009-Jan 2010, 31 (colour illus.), 32.
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Author Unknown, Advance Australia Fair, 1991, (illus.).
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Important Australian art. Auction 3 May 2017, 2017, 59 (colour illus.).
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