05 October, 2005

Grace Cossington Smith




final days at the art gallery of south australia

The Art Gallery of South Australia is very fortunate to be the first venue for this major touring exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia. Over thirty years since Daniel Thomas’s landmark retrospective, which finally placed Cossington Smith at the age of 81 on the cultural map as a pioneer of Post-Impressionism in Australia, this current exhibition reaffirms Cossington Smith’s significance to Australian art.

Surveying her artistic career from 1910 – 1971 and consisting of over 100 paintings and watercolours and a selection of key sketchbooks, the exhibition includes some of her earliest works, such as the iconic Sock Knitter of 1915. The central core of the exhibition embraces the period from the 1920s – 1930s, which asserts Cossington Smith as an adventurous artist, with paintings and drawings of Sydney Harbour Bridge, landscapes, seascapes, still lifes and wild flowers.

Curated by Dr Deborah Hart, Senior Curator Australian Paintings and Sculptures at the National Gallery of Australia, this comprehensive exhibition acknowledges Cossington Smith as the creator of iconic images and as a pioneering modernist of her generation.


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Grace Cossington Smith

This exhibition is a tribute to Grace Cossington Smith, one of Australia's most important and paradoxical artists; an artist who lived a relatively quiet, circumscribed life who was also the creator of iconic images and one of the most brilliant pioneering modernists of her generation.

This major survey of Cossington Smith's practice from 1910 to 1971 – the full span of her art career – includes paintings and drawings from a wide range of public and private collections and key sketchbooks drawn from the Gallery's holdings; as well as 4 electronic screens featuring 161 sketchbook images, 3 subsite kiosks and a DVD featuring videos related to her work and times.

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide South Australia
28 July – 9 October 2005

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney New South Wales
29 October 2005 – 15 January 2006

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Queensland
11 February – 30 April 2006


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