Grace Crowley
(Australia 28 May 1890–21 Apr 1979)
- Title
- The artist and his model
- Place of origin
-
Sydney →
New South Wales →
Australia
- Year
- 1938
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions
-
86.0 x 54.0cm board; 98.7 x 66.7 x 2.4cm frame
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r. corner, black oil "GRACE CROWLEY/ -/38".
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 1975
- Accession number
- 61.1975
- Copyright
- © Reproduced with permission of Grace Crowley Estate
- Location
- 20th & 21st c Australian art
- Further information
The subject of Grace Crowley’s work is fellow artist Ralph Balson, painting a model on the roof terrace of Crowley’s studio in George Street, Sydney. Influenced by the cubist theories of French artist André Lhote, whose teaching emphasised the importance of subsuming colour into geometric structure, 'The artist and his model' reveals a disintegration of figurative forms and division of the pictorial space into decorative areas. It also signalled a growing commitment, shared by both artists, to complete abstraction.
In 1939, Crowley and Balson took part in the important 'Exhibition I' at David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney. With other participating artists – including Rah Fizelle, Frank Hinder and Eleonore Lange – Balson and Crowley collaborated in the 1930s as leaders of the second phase of the modern movement in Australia, developing the earlier ideas of Roland Wakelin, Roy de Maistre and others that dated from the beginning of World War I.
- Bibliography (8)
-
Nick Waterlow (Australia) (Curator), Annabel Pegus (Australia) (Curator), Symposium papers: Colour in art - revisiting 1919 & R-Balson, Paddington, 2008, 9, 11, 35,.
Elena Taylor (Author), Grace Crowley: being modern, Canberra, 2006, 35, 36 (colour illus.), 37, 61.
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, Domain, 2002, 90 (colour illus.), 142, 147.
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 126 (colour illus.), 300.
Lynne Seear (Australia) (Editor), Julie Ewington (Australia) (Editor), Brought to light: Australian Art 1850-1965, South Brisbane, 1998, 224 (illus.).
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 47 (colour illus.).
Bruce Adams (Author), Ralph Balson A Retrospective, Bulleen, Jul 1989, 8 (illus.), 9.
Daniel Thomas (Curator), Project 4: Grace Crowley, Sydney, 1975. cat.no. 23
- Exhibition history (13)
-
Exhibition I, David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, 17 Aug 1939–02 Sep 1939.
Balson, Crowley, Fizelle, Hinder, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 05 Oct 1966–30 Oct 1966.
Balson, Crowley, Fizelle, Hinder, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 09 Nov 1966–11 Dec 1966.
Project 4 - Grace Crowley (1975), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 10 May 1975–08 Jun 1975.
Aspects of Australian art: Art Gallery of New South Wales Travelling Art Exhibition 1976, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1976–1977.
Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003.
Sydney studios, S.H. Ervin Gallery, 14 Aug 2004–26 Sep 2004.
Grace Crowley: being modern, National Gallery of Australia, 23 Dec 2006–06 May 2007.
Grace Crowley: being modern, Art Gallery of South Australia, 27 Jul 2007–28 Oct 2007.
Grace Crowley: being modern, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, 21 Dec 2007–17 Feb 2008.
Grace Crowley: being modern, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 19 Mar 2008–18 May 2008.
Grace Crowley: being modern, Art Gallery of Western Australia, 14 Jun 2008–21 Sep 2008.
Grace Crowley: being modern, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 02 Oct 2008–23 Nov 2008.
