Collection
Grace Cossington Smith
(Australia 1892–20 Dec 1984)
- Title
- Signing
- Year
- 1945
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on paperboard
- Dimensions
-
58.5 d 72.0cm board; 71.9 x 85.3 x 5.5cm frame:
0 - Whole; 58.4 x 72.2cm
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.l. corner, black ink "G Cossington Smith. 45".
- Credit
- Purchased under the terms of the Florence Turner Blake Bequest 1976
- Accession number
- 187.1976
- Copyright
- © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
'Signing' is about the historic Yalta Agreement in 1945. It is a tense, ambiguous depiction of the encounter of the world leaders, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, with photographers in the background. The artist focuses our attention on the act of signing, as if to convey that with a stroke of a pen the fate of millions of lives is sealed.
- Bibliography (5)
-
Manly Regional Art Gallery and Museum (Editor), Artists as social commentators and activists 2007, Sydney, 2007, 30, 6 (colour illus.).
Alan Sisley, Central Western Daily 29 Oct 2011, 'Colourful characters from a shady past', n.pag., Orange, 29 Oct 2011, n.pag. (colour illus.). Article relates to the exhibition 'An expanded vision: Mary Turner collection' held at Orange Regional Gallery in 2011.
Virginia Spate, Art Monthly Australia Aug 2005, 'Amazing Grace: Thoughts inspired by the Grace Cossington Smith exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra', pg. 22-30, Acton, Aug 2005, 27-28.
Catherine Speck, Painting ghosts: Australian women artists in wartime, Melbourne, 2004, 192 (colour illus.), 193, 233. illus.no. 115
Daniel Thomas, Grace Cossington Smith 2005, 'Modernity and inwards', pg. 102-107, Canberra, 2005, 102 (illus.), 147-148, 149 (colour illus.), 179.
- Exhibition history (4)
-
Grace Cossington Smith (1976), Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 03 Mar 1976–15 Mar 1976
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005):
- National Gallery of Australia, Australia 04 Mar 2005–13 Jun 2005
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 29 Jul 2005–09 Oct 2005
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 29 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006
- Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane 11 Feb 2006–30 Apr 2006
Artists as Social Commentators and Activists 1946-2006:
- Manly Regional Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney 06 Sep 2007–28 Oct 2007
- Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor 08 Feb 2008–30 Mar 2008
An expanded vision: Mary Turner collection, Orange Regional Gallery, Australia, 27 Aug 2011–30 Oct 2011
