Women Artworks in current stockroom

(alphabetically by artist surname)

Portrait in the Room

Grace Cossington Smith (1892-1984)

Portrait in the Room1961

oil on board

signed and dated lower right

34 x 22cm

Provenance

Private collection, Sydney;

Barsby Auctions, Sydney 18/08/2018, Lot no. 364;

Private collection, Sydney

[Ploughed Field With Shadows]

Category: Photography Women

Olive Cotton (1911-2003)

[Ploughed Field With Shadows]1940

vintage silver gelatin photograph

signed and dated in pencil in lower margin

29.6 x 29.5cm

Experimental Windflower Montage With Shadow Pattern

Category: Photography Women

Olive Cotton (1911-2003)

Experimental Windflower Montage With Shadow Pattern1939

vintage silver gelatin photograph

inscribed with photographer’s name, title, date and signed by daughter Sally McInerney in pencil verso

37.6 x 30.2cm

Essay

This montage was created by overlaying two photographic negatives, creating a simple yet enchanting floral composition. A variant of this image is illustrated in two books, both written by Professor Helen Ennis, Olive Cotton, Photographer, NLA, 1995, p63, and in Olive Cotton, AGNSW, 2000 (p. 51).

In 1929, at the age of 18, Olive Cotton became a member of the Sydney Camera Club and the Photographic Society of New South Wales. She graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in english and mathematics. She joined Max Dupain’s studio shortly after completing her studies, marrying him in 1939. During the war years Cotton ran Dupain’s studio while he was away on war service. Today, she is recognised as a major contributor to Australian photography.

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Grass At Sundown

Category: Photography Women

Olive Cotton (1911-2003)

Grass At Sundown1939

vintage silver gelatin photograph

signed in pencil in lower margin, titled in ink verso

24.7 x 25.9cm

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Max Dupain with Tripod

Category: Photography Women

Olive Cotton (1911-2003)

Max Dupain with Tripod

silver gelatin photograph

signed in margin below, titled verso

18.1 x 17.9cm

Essay

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Honey Flow

Category: Mixed Media Modern Women

Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999)

Honey Flow1985

painted and stencilled wood, nails on plywood backing

signed with initials, dated and inscribed with title verso

108 x 84cm

Provenance

Collection of the artist, Canberra;

Thence by descent;

Deutscher and Hackett, Important Australian and International Fine Art, Sydney, 10/04/2018;

Private collection, Sydney

Exhibited

Rosalie Gascoigne 1985, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 8 – 28 September 1985, cat. 3 (illus. in exhibition catalogue)

Rosalie Gascoigne, Pinacotheca, Melbourne, 15 October – 1 November 1986, cat. 1

From the Studio of Rosalie Gascoigne, Drill Hall Gallery, Australia National University, Canberra, 5 September – 8 October 2000, cat. 17

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Five Futures

Category: Contemporary Large Scale Works Women

Beth Letain (b. 1976)

Five Futures2017

oil on canvas

170 x 140cm

Provenance

Pace Gallery, London;

Private Collection, Sydney

Exhibited

Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles, US, 25-28 January, 2018

Essay

Berlin-based Canadian artist Beth Letain engages with the history of colour and abstraction. While her works feel minimalist compositionally, they are vivid with strong colour painted on white canvas. Letain’s geometric structures are harmonious and rhythmic, referencing Agnes Martin, Mary Heilmann and the Bauhaus theories of colour. This work is of magnificent scale with lashings of oil and rich pigment, so characteristic of the artist’s style. Her works are simple and enduring.

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Parwalla

Category: Aboriginal Large Scale Works Painting Women

Elizabeth Nyumi Nungurrayi (b. 1947)

Parwalla2008

synthetic polymer paint on linen

inscribed verso: artist's name, size and Warlayirti Artists cat. 134/08

180 x 120cm

Provenance

Warlayirti Artists, Balgo Hills;

Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne;

Private collection, Melbourne;

Deutscher and Hackett, Part 2: Important Aboriginal Art, Melbourne 26 November 2014, Lot 104;

Private collection, Sydney

Essay

This painting depicts Elizabeth Nyumi’s father’s country, Parwalla. It is a large area that fills with water after the wet season and consequently produces an abundance of bush foods. The painting shows a variety of native foods including bush raisin, bush tomato and seeds. Women, shown as U shapes, with their digging sticks and coolamons gathering the foods, are also depicted.

Parwalla is a characteristic example of the work of Nyumi, one of the most-renowned, contemporary female Aboriginal artists. In her maturity as a painter Nyumi initially worked with a thick brush, covering the canvas in emanating lines in muted tones. The white, so pleasing and prevalent in her work, represent spinifex grass. She is an active member in the Balgo community, being a strong law and culture woman.

In 2004 Nyumi was selected for inclusion in the Biennale of Sydney. Her works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Artbank, Sydney; the Laverty Collection, Sydney; and the Holmes à Court Collection, Perth.