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Cossington Smith graces Australian galleries
By Sandy Swanton
Grace Cossington Smith (1892–1984) has certainly been brushed with an interesting array of colours. Living most of her life in a house called Cossington in the Sydney suburb of Turramurra, her career stretched from 1910 through to 1971 and was dominated by colour and vibrancy. Cossington Smith worked into her 70 s, drawing and painting, and growing bolder in her art as she grew older.
One of Australia 's first post-impressionist artists, Cossington Smith's great love of colour, light and evocative domestic interiors has caused some to regard her as our very own Van Gogh.
Art lovers have welcomed the news that many of the great works of Cossington Smith are currently on show in a travelling National Gallery of Australia (NGA) exhibition.
New NGA director, Ron Radford AM , is pleased to be involved in the exhibition, commenting that it highlights the strength and originality of a brilliant artist.
Created from a wide range of public and private collections, the retrospective exhibition traces Cossington Smith's development through paintings and drawings, as well as her many sketchbooks, revealing an artist of extraordinary daring.
‘Cossington Smith was always conscious of architecture, geometry and pattern. But it was colour and light that set her apart—they were the inseparable elements in her art,' says Deborah Hart, senior curator of Australian painting and sculpture at the NGA.
‘By the late 1920 s, she just knew that colour was the thing she was really on about and she went for it … she did get a lot of criticism in the press, but she was very bold and knew what she wanted.'
Cossington Smith explained her artistic style and expression by saying ‘I see something and it makes me feel a colour and that is what I try to get'.
Later, her ability as a great colourist came to the fore in unison with her sure sense of structure. In 1930 she painted what is now considered to be one of Australia 's most significant modernist paintings, The Bridge in-curve . Indeed, Hart believes this piece shows Cossington Smith as the best painter of the Sydney Harbour Bridge , commenting that ‘she captured the excitement of the bridge coming into being'.
Grace Cossington Smith's passion for painting and drawing, her distinctive vision and her love and intensity of spirit all shine through her works, and can now be enjoyed by people around the nation in this unique exhibition.
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective was on display at the NGA and then moved to the Art Gallery of South Australia (28 July–9 October 2005). It is at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (29 October 2005–15 January 2006) and the Queensland Art Gallery (11 February–30 April 2006).
For more information visit www.nga.gov.au or phone 02 6240 6502.