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Collection

• Reproduction requests

Grace Cossington Smith

(Australia 1892–20 Dec 1984)

Title

The curve of the bridge

Place of origin

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Year

1928-1929

Media

Painting

Medium

oil on cardboard

Dimensions

110.5 x 82.5cm board; 137.2 x 109.5 x 10.9cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.l. corner, black ink "G.Cossington Smith". Not dated.

Credit

Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales and James Fairfax AO 1991

Accession number

1.1991

Copyright

© Estate of Grace Cossington Smith

Location

20th and 21st c Australian art

Further information

Grace Cossington Smith is a seminal figure among the first generation of Sydney modernist artists. Cossington Smith’s formative artistic experiences were largely developed in Sydney. It was here, and in the early years of her long studentship under Anthony Dattilo-Rubbo from 1910, that her passion for post-Impressionist art was ignited. Through reproductions, Dattilo-Rubbo introduced her to the work of the European modern masters such as Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh. However, she was initially guided by Dattilo-Rubbo’s championing of modern colour and Divisionist painting techniques, such as the separation of colours on the canvas requiring the viewer’s eye to combine them optically.

By 1915, Cossington Smith’s work revealed a decisive shift toward a modernist expression through compositions of flattened forms, condensed space and, most significantly, intensified colour. During the 1920s she became increasingly interested in modern theories of colour, and her self-proclaimed aim to express ‘form in colour’ and ‘colour vibrant with light’ became a driving principle of her practice, and one of her distinctions as a great colourist painter.1 By the late 1920s, Cossington Smith had established herself as a leading force in Australian modernist painting.

In 1924, construction commenced on the Sydney Harbour Bridge – the engineering marvel that transformed the city. From her favoured vantage area of Milson’s Point on the North Shore, Cossington Smith filled sketchbooks with drawings of the bridge’s creation. She developed these into a series of works of bold, energetic colour. Amongst these, ‘The curve of the bridge’ stands as one of the most exceptional and monumental paintings in her oeuvre.

In this painting, the bridge’s colossal curve unfolds as a dynamic work in progress, fuelled by the rhythmic interplay of steel girders, light and shadow. Blocks of patterned brushwork distribute luminous colour with a pulsating energy across the canvas, unifying the forms of bridge, water, city and sky as a vibrant whole.

Throughout its construction and until its completion in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge inspired many artists. Amongst these responses, ‘The curve of the bridge’ is distinguished by the Cossington Smith’s interpretation of the subject. She applies to her vision of the city the same sense of a sweeping organic and quasi-spiritualised energy with which she orchestrated her 1920s landscape paintings. In doing so, the bridge’s developing form becomes a symbol of optimism and the progressive modern age.

1 Grace Cossington Smith quoted in Daniel Thomas, ‘Colour worship. Grace Cossington Smith, “The lacquer room”, 1936’ in Creating Australia: 200 years of art 1788-1988, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 1988, p174

Bibliography (36)

Look (May 2012), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Author), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Look (Mar 2010), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Look (May 2009), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Art and Australia (Vol. 46, No. 3) (2009), Katrina Schwartz (Australia) (Editor), Art & Australia Pty Ltd (Australia), Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Art-iculate: art for VCE units 1-4 (2009), Kathryn Hendy-Ekers (Australia) (Author), Louise Chamberlin (Author), Deryck Greenwood (Author), Cambridge University Press (England), Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Art Gallery of New South Wales: highlights from the collection (2008), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Sydney Harbour Bridge: Idea to icon (2006), Michael Moy (Australia) (Author), Alpha Orion Press (Australia), Ashgrove, Queensland, Australia.

Bridging Sydney (2006), Caroline Mackaness (Australia) (Author), Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1980), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Grace Cossington Smith (2005), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Editor), National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

S.A. Parker Framing Works (2004), Paula Dredge (Author), Margaret Sawicki (Australia) (Author), Stevan Miller (Australia) (Author), Lindsay Parker (Australia, b.1939, d.2003) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Look: 1953-2003 celebrating 50 years (May 2003), Jill Sykes (Australia) (Editor), 10pm [print management] (Australia), Newtown, New South Wales, Australia.

Foundation Newsletter #2 (May 2003), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Author), The Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation (Australia), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Ghost nation: imagined space and Australian visual culture 1901-1939 (2001), Laurie Duggan (Australia) (Author), University of Queensland Press (Australia), St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia.

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Australian artist (Aug 2000), Editor Unknown (Editor), Elladrent (Australia), Chatswood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Sun-Herald (30 Jul 2000), Unknown (Australia) (Editor), John Fairfax & Sons (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Enter Art (2000), Lisa Slade (Author), Rachael Kirsten (Australia) (Author), NSW Department of Education and Training Curriculum Support Directorate (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian painters of the twentieth century (2000), Lou Klepac (Australia; Croatia, b.1936) (Author), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), Peter Pinson (Australia, b.1943) (Author), Gavin Fry (Author), Sasha Grishin AM (Australia) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Author), The Beagle Press (Australia), Roseville, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2000), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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Grace Cossington Smith (1990), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Craftsman House (Australia), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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Exhibition history (12)

Australian Art Quest, at State Theatre (Australia).

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, (01 Oct 2011–04 Dec 2011), at Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (Australia), 40 Lydiard Street North Ballarat Victoria Australia 3350.

Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, (04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), (04 Mar 2005–13 Jun 2005), at National Gallery of Australia (Australia, estab. 1982), Parkes Place Parkes, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 2600.

Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, (10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012), at Newcastle Region Art Gallery (Australia), Laman Street Newcastle New South Wales Australia 2300.

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), (11 Feb 2006–30 Apr 2006), at Queensland Art Gallery (Australia, estab. 1895), Cnr Melbourne & Grey Streets South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Bridging Sydney, (16 Dec 2006–29 Apr 2007), at Museum of Sydney (Australia, estab. 1995), 37 Phillip Street Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

Great gifts, great patrons, (17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.

An Exhibition of Paintings and drawings by Lionel T. Crawshaw, R.S.W., Mrs. Lionel Crawshaw and Grace Cossington Smith, (22 Apr 1932–12 May 1932), at Walker's Galleries (England), 118 New Bond Street W1 London United Kingdom.

Art Treasures of Olympic Cities, (22 Jun 1993–03 Oct 1993), at Lausanne Olympic Museum (Switzerland).

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), (29 Jul 2005–09 Oct 2005), at Art Gallery of South Australia (Australia, estab. 1881), North Terrace Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 5000.

Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), (29 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006), at Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia, estab. 1874), Art Gallery Rd Domain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2000.