Grace Crowley

(Australia 28 May 1890–21 Apr 1979)

Title

Portrait of Lucie Beynis

Other titles:

Portrait

Place of origin

Paris → France

Year

(1929)

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas on hardboard

Dimensions

79.7 x 64.5cm stretcher; 92.4 x 77.1 x 3.3cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.r. corner, (pencil?) "GRACE CROWLEY [faint]". Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1965

Accession number

OA14.1965

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

Completed on the eve of her return to Sydney following four years of study in France, 'Portrait of Lucie Beynis' depicts a professional model whom Crowley painted over a period of four mornings whilst attending L'Academie Lhote in Paris.

Crowley recounted, 'we were united in one belief, the constructive approach to painting, and this insistence of the abstract elements in building up a design was the keynote of teaching with Lhote and Gleizes ... we were discouraged from making merely a faithful record of the nude [model] ... the abstract elements in line, shape and colour were introduced in order to induce the student to construct from it a design within a given space'.

Lhote's modified version of Cubism was one in which the human figure is retained, held within a field of dissecting geometric planes and shafts of colour running through the body. This approach dominated Crowley's semi-abstract paintings during the thirties, until her departure into pure abstraction in the 1940s.

Bibliography (16)

Grace Crowley's contribution to Australian modernism and geometric abstraction, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2010, 54, 56 (illus.). figure 2.2

Anne Gray (Australia, b.1947) (Author), Face: Australian portraits 1880-1960, Canberra, 2010, 98.

Sue Cramer (Author), Lesley Harding (Australia) (Author), Cubism & Australian art, Carlton, 2009, 40 (colour illus.).

'Setting the record straight' by Jane Somerville, pg. 15-16., Look Mar 2007, Mar 2007, 15 (colour illus.).

Elena Taylor (Author), Grace Crowley: being modern, Canberra, 2006, 21 (colour illus.), 23, 31-32, 59.

Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, Domain, 2002, 88. 89 (colour illus.), 142, 147.

Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 104, 125 (colour illus.), 300.

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 140 (colour illus.).

Author Unknown (Author), The Australian Womens Diary 1995, 1994, 49, 50 (colour illus.). cat.no. 77. Entry by Janine Burke. Biography by Janine Burke, p. 337-338.

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 45 (colour illus.).

Deborah Edwards (Australia) (Author), Two centuries of Australian painting: a selection from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, New South Wales, 1986, 30 (illus.). cat.no. 29

Janine Burke (Australia, b.1952) (Author), Australian women artists 1840-1940, Collingwood, 1980, 52, 111 (colour illus.). plate no. 33

Jude Adams (Author), Barbara Hall (Author), Jennifer Barber (Author), Project 21: Women's images of women, Sydney, 1977. cat.no. 12; Collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Daniel Thomas (Curator), Project 4: Grace Crowley, Sydney, 1975. cat.no. 14

Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 103 (colour illus.).

Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Apr 1965, Apr 1965, (illus.).

Exhibition history (13)

Project 4 - Grace Crowley (1975), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 10 May 1975–08 Jun 1975.

Project 21 - Womens images of women (1977), Art Gallery of New South Wales, 15 Oct 1977–13 Nov 1977.

Two centuries of Australian painting, a selection from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Orange Regional Gallery, 19 Apr 1986–15 Jun 1986.

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.

Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003.

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.

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011.

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012.