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An image of Wet afternoon by Ethel Spowers

Ethel Spowers

(Australia 1890–1947)

Title
Wet afternoon
Year
1929-1930
Media category
Print
Materials used
linocut, printed from four blocks on thin ivory laid tissue
Edition
32/50
Dimensions

23.9 x 20.2cm image (irreg.); 31.1 x 23.1cm sheet

Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r., pencil "E.L. Spowers. 1930.".
Credit
Purchased 1968
Accession number
DA33.1968
Location
Not on display
Further information

After briefly attending art school in Paris, Ethel Spowers undertook the full course in drawing and painting at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1911 to 1917. In 1921 she returned to Europe, and studied at the Regent Street
Polytechnic, London and the Académie Ranson, Paris. Her work changed considerably from 1929, when she briefly studied linocut printmaking with Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art, London. The linocuts she made under Flight’s tutelage show a modernist movement and rhythm.

This print was exhibited in London in 1930, when impressions were acquired by the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Bibliography (13)

'What's on elsewhere', pg. 44., Look Sep 2012, Sep 2012, 44 (colour illus.).

AJIOKA Chiaki (Japan) (Author), Connie Tornatore-Loong (Australia) (Author), Japan in Sydney: Professor Sadler & modernism, 1920-30s, Sydney, 2011, 6 (colour illus.), 28, 137. cat.no. 39

Helen Campbell (Australia) (Author), Colour, rhythm, design: wood & lino cuts of the 20s & 30s, Sydney, 2010, 14 (colour illus.).

Susan McCulloch (England; Australia, b.1949) (Author), Alan McCulloch (Australia, b.1907, d.1992) (Author), Emily McCulloch Childs (Australia, b.1976) (Author), The new McCulloch's encyclopedia of Australian art, Carlton, 2006, 903 (colour illus.). NOTE: this is not the AGNSW impression.

Accessories and adornment 2000, 2000, 18 (colour illus.). children's activity book

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Anne Ryan (Australia) (Author), Australian prints from the Gallery's collection, Sydney, 1998, 64 (colour illus.), 65. cat.no. 53

Deborah Edwards (Australia) (Author), Daphne Wallace (Australia, b.1964) (Author), Margo Neale (Australia) (Author), Victoria Lynn (Australia) (Author), Sandra Byron (Australia) (Author), Review: works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 1995. no catalogue numbers; not paginated

Stephen Coppel (Australia) (Author), Linocuts of the machine age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor school, England, 1995, (colour illus.), 66, 67, 170 (illus.), 171. plate 30; cat.no. 14; NOTE: this is not the AGNSW impression.

Anna Waldmann (Australia) (Author), Project 39 - Women's Imprint, Domain, 1982, (illus.). no catalogue numbers; not paginated

Janine Burke (Australia, b.1952) (Author), Australian women artists 1840-1940, Collingwood, 1980, 148 (illus.), 180. plate no. 75; Collection of National Gallery of Victoria

Nicholas Draffin (Australia, b.1943, d.1995) (Author), Australian woodcuts and linocuts of the 1920s and 1930s, South Melbourne, 1976, 14, 44 (colour illus.).

Art in Australia [series 3, no. 77] Nov 1939, Nov 1939, 65 (illus.).

'Suddenly, the world wants Spowers' by Michaela Boland, n.pag., The Australian 19 Dec 2011, 19 Dec 2011, n.pag.. NOTE: this is not the AGNSW impression.

Exhibition history (5)

Project 39 - Women's Imprint (1982), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 01 Oct 1982–31 Oct 1982.

Review - works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 Mar 1995–04 Jun 1995.

Australian prints from the Gallery's collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 06 Nov 1998–07 Feb 1999.

Australian Collection Focus: Colour, Rhythm, Design - wood & lino cuts of the 20s & 30s, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 12 Mar 2010–11 Jul 2010.

Professor Sadler, Japan and Australian modernism, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, 03 Apr 2011–24 Jul 2011.