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Collection

An image of Extravaganza by Grace Cossington Smith

Grace Cossington Smith

(Australia 1892–20 Dec 1984)

Title
Extravaganza
Other titles:
An Extravaganza of the Orient
Place of origin
Turramurra → Sydney → New South Wales → Australia
Year
(1921)
Media category
Painting
Materials used
oil on canvas on paperboard
Dimensions

49.9 x 47.5cm board; 60.7 x 58.1 x 4.8cm frame

Signature & date
Signed l.r. corner, black ink "G Cossington Smith". Not dated.
Credit
Purchased 1967
Accession number
OA7.1967
Copyright
© Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
Location
Not on display
Further information

Grace Cossington Smith painted this work following a visit to the musical play 'Chu-Chin-Chow, which was written and produced by the Australian actor-manager Oscar Asche and which broke all records for long running when he opened it in London in August 1916. The play ran until July 1921 when it closed in Sydney.

It opened in Australia at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne, 11 December 1920 and was presented by Hugh D McIntosh. It travelled to Adelaide, and opened in Sydney at the Grand Opera House on Easter Saturday, 26 March 1921. It was always advertised as "an extravaganza of the Orient".

Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2001

Bibliography (6)

Deborah Hart, Grace Cossington Smith 2005, 'Cultural landscapes', pg. 56-75, Canberra, 2005, 59 (colour illus.).

Bruce James, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 40-51, Roseville, 2000, 51.

Bruce James, Grace Cossington Smith, 'Centre of a city', pg. 53-60, Sydney, 1990, 54 (illus.). figure no. 24

Daniel Thomas, Art and Australia Mar 1967, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 300-312, Sydney, Mar 1967.

Daniel Thomas, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Jan 1970, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 510-521, Sydney, Jan 1970, 515 (illus.), 519.

Editor Unknown (Editor), 1967 Acquisitions 1967, Sydney, 1967, 20. cat.no. 24

Exhibition history (4)

Forty-second Annual Exhibition of the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (1921), Exhibition Gallery Department of Public Instruction, Sydney, 02 Aug 1921 -

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

Grace Cossington Smith (1973-74):

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005):