Woman at a washtub

While the artist has signed this work Niel A Gren he was born Nils Ahgren and was later known as Nils Gren. Born in Sweden, Gren was in Australia by 1916, studying with Antonio Datillo-Rubbo in Sydney along with Roland Wakelin, Grace Cossington Smith and possibly Roy de Maistre. He also worked alongside Wakelin (and other artists including Lloyd Rees, Percy Leason and Albert Collins) at the commercial art firm Smith and Julius, run by Sydney Ure Smith and Harry Julius. While a temporary resident of Sydney, his work formed part of the vital movement of emerging modernist practices during the interwar period, and he was an important member of the city’s contemporary cultural milieu.