Collection
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Title
Building the Harbour Bridge IV: the ants' progress, November 1929
1929
About
The Gallery has the complete set of Jessie Traill's celebrated series of etchings depicting the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, completed in the years 1927 to 1931. Traill's interest in this complex engineering feat was shared by a number of artists, including her close contemporary Grace Cossington Smith, attesting to the central place the construction of the bridge had in the life of the city.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000
Details
Other Titles
Sydney Bridge IV: The ants' progress, November 1929
Building the Harbour Bridge IV: the ant's progress
Date
1929
Materials used
etching with foul biting, printed in brown ink on cream wove paper
Edition
2/25
Dimensions
39.8 x 25.2 cm platemark; 49.0 x 33.6 cm sheet
Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. beneath platemark, pencil "JCA Traill 1929".
Credit
Purchased 1975
Location
Not on display
Accession number
201.1975
URL / Share
Jessie Traill
Building the Harbour Bridge IV: the ants' progress, November 1929
Place
Where the work was made
Sydney
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Observing Sydney - Views of and from Observatory Hill, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 07 May 1993–13 Jun 1993
Australian prints from the Gallery's collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Nov 1998–07 Feb 1999
Metropolis, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 18 Dec 1999–02 Apr 2000
Bridging Sydney, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 16 Dec 2006–29 Apr 2007
Stars in the river; the prints of Jessie Traill, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 16 Feb 2013–23 Jun 2013
Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
Referenced in 15 publications
Bibliography
Deborah Edwards and Denise Mimmocchi, Look, 'Sydney Moderns', pg. 24-28, Sydney, Jun 2013, 24 (colour illus.).
Peter Emmett, Sydney: metropolis, suburb, harbour, 'Metropolis', pg. 13-70, Glebe, 2000, 49-50 (colour illus.).
Peter Emmett, Metropolis, Glebe, 1999. Exhibition guide, brochure format.
Sasha Grishin, Australian art: a history, 'Art of federation in print', pg. 186-195, Carlton, 2013, 195 (colour illus.), 549, 569. not AGNSW impression; plate no. 19.8
Deborah Hart, Australia, 'Australian landscape: pathways into the modern world 1920-50', pg. 184-225, London, 2013, 201 (colour illus.). cat.no. 133; not an AGNSW impression
Jane Hylton, Modern Australian women: paintings & prints 1925-1945, Adelaide, 2000, 26 (colour illus.), 127. Collection of Art Gallery of South Australia
Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 182-197, Sydney, 1999, 193 (colour illus.).
Hendrik Kolenberg, Australian prints from the Gallery's collection, 'Introduction', pg. 8-13, Sydney, 1998, 11 (colour illus.), 44 (colour illus.). cat.no. 30
Caroline Mackaness, Bridging Sydney, Sydney, 2006, 207 (colour illus.).
Ewen McDonald, AGNSW Collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 36 (colour illus.), 37.
Denise Mimmocchi, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'Icon of modernity: the Sydney Harbour Bridge', pg. 154-163, Sydney, 2013, 161 (colour illus.), 316, 324.
Macushla Robinson, Stars in the river: the prints of Jessie Traill, 'Building the Harbour Bridge series', pg. 52-61, Canberra, 2013, 9, 58 (illus.), 59, 107, 115 (illus.), 146, 171 (illus.). NOTE: The text on page 107 speaks generally about Traill's Sydney Harbour Bridge works. 'Building the Harbour Bridge' series is specifically discussed on pages 56-60.
Anne Ryan, Australian etchings and engravings 1880s–1930s from the Gallery's collection, Sydney, 2007, 48 (colour illus.). cat.no. 68
John Slater, Through artists' eyes: Australian suburbs and their cities 1919-1945, 'Continuity and change', pg. 35-70, Melbourne, 2004, 59-60, 63, 74 (illus.). illus.no. 55
Susannah Smith, Look, 'Women's work: their diverse and significant contribution to the modernist art scene', pg. 13-15, Sydney, Aug 2013, 14.