Grace Cossington Smith

(Australia 1892–20 Dec 1984)

Title

Circular Quay from Milson's Point

Place of origin

Sydney → New South Wales → Australia

Year

(1929)

Media category

Drawing

Materials used

coloured pencil, crayon

Dimensions

45.7 x 34.1cm sheet

Signature & date

Signed l.l., black pencil "G. Cossington Smith". Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1967

Accession number

DA5.1967

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

Grace Cossington Smith visited the site of the Sydney Harbour Bridge many times during its construction, and produced some of the most memorable images of the project in a large number of sketchbook drawings. Her coloured pencil renditions of various aspects of the building express something of the bridge's architectural energy and its central symbolism as a marker of the modern age. This view of the bridge from the North Shore shares many of the elements of her oil painting of 1928-29 'The curve of the bridge', in the Gallery's collection.

Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000

Bibliography (7)

Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Editor), Grace Cossington Smith, Canberra, 2005, 132 (colour illus.), 176.

Hendrik Kolenberg (Netherlands; Australia) (Author), Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Domain, 1997, 12, 40, 41 (colour illus.). cat.no. 28

John Williams (Author), Quarantined Culture: Aust Reactions to Modernism, Sydney, 1995, 85, 197, 210, 211, 246.

Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Modernism 1900-1950 - Prints and Drawings from the Collection, Sydney, 1994.

Kay Vernon (Author), Harbour hymns, city songs: visions of Sydney from the collection, Sydney, 1990. cat.no. 54

Jane de Teliga (Australia) (Author), Australian images: Prints, drawings and watercolours from the collection, Sydney, 1979, 9.

'Grace Cossington Smith' by Daniel Thomas, pg. 510-521., Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Jan 1970, Jan 1970, 517 (illus.), 521.

Exhibition history (11)

Society of Artists Special Exhibition of drawings, designs and watercolours (1929), David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, 06 May 1929–20 May 1929.

Acquisitions 1967, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 06 Mar 1968–01 Apr 1968.

Australian images: Prints, drawings and watercolours from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 22 Dec 1979–28 Jan 1980.

Harbour hymns, city songs: visions of Sydney from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 Jan 1990–11 Mar 1990.

Modernism 1900-1950 - Prints and Drawings from the Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 23 Jul 1994–25 Sep 1994.

Australian drawings from the Gallery's collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 13 Dec 1997–15 Mar 1998.

Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), National Gallery of Australia, 04 Mar 2005–13 Jun 2005.

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 29 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006.

Australian Modernists: Their responses to the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, 10 Feb 2011–25 Mar 2011.

Henri Mallard: Building the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, 10 Feb 2011–26 Mar 2011.