Grace Cossington Smith - National Gallery of Australia

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Grace Cossington Smith Top deck, the Arawa, Shaw Savill Line c. 1949
TRAVEL Grace Cossington Smith Top deck, the Arawa, Shaw Savill Line c. 1949 ink and pen, pencil, and coloured pencil sketchbook 25 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Purchased 1976 Grace Cossington Smith spent most of her life living in the family home in Turramurra. During her student days she spent more time in the city, traveling there by train. She traveled overseas twice. The fi rst trip was with her father and older sister, Mabel, in 1912 when Cossington Smith was 19. During this time she briefl y attended art school at Winchester in England and also attended art classes during a three-month stay in Stettin, Germany. Separated by some 34 years and two world wars, the artist’s second period overseas spanned December 1948 to February 1951. By this time she was a mature and established artist. Accompanied by her two younger sisters, Madge and Diddy, Cossington Smith fi lled 26 sketchbooks over this period. Drawing was her primary mode of making art while overseas, and the drawings present a chronological and geographical survey of her journeys to new and familiar places. In these later drawings she replaced pastels with graphite pencil, coloured pencil, and pen and ink. Over her artistic life Cossington Smith fi lled many sketchbooks with drawings, 52 of which are in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Many of these sketchbooks are fi lled with sketches made during her second trip abroad and a number are fi nished drawings rather than working drawings for later paintings. Top deck, the Arawa, Shaw Savill Line c. 1949 was created on the way to Europe. Cossington Smith spent many hours observing and drawing life on deck, the heaving ocean, and the luminous light of sky and water. She used coloured pencils lightly, letting the paper show through, concentrating on their lineal rather than tonal quality. As in her paintings, the direction of the pencil strokes in her drawings animate the surface and convey movement and light. Visual analysis The artist’s characteristic use of oblique lines and angled structures can be seen in this composition. The converging lines of the deck lead the eye into the distance, with the overlapping and tilting forms on the left conveying the heaving motion of the vessel. Discussion points •Discuss the signifi cance of drawing in the art of Grace Cossington Smith. •Discuss the difference between a fi nished drawing and a sketch. Look at Top Deck, the Arawa, Shaw Savill Line in this context.
Page 1 and 2: Grace Cossington Smith A RETROSPECT
Page 3 and 4: GRACE COSSINGTON SMITH BIOGRAPHICAL
Page 5 and 6: PORTRAITS Grace Cossington Smith St
Page 7 and 8: FAMILY Grace Cossington Smith Portr
Page 9 and 10: WAR Grace Cossington Smith The sock
Page 11 and 12: WAR Grace Cossington Smith Dawn lan
Page 13 and 14: CITY LIFE Grace Cossington Smith Ce
Page 15 and 16: CITY LIFE Grace Cossington Smith Th
Page 17 and 18: CITY LIFE Grace Cossington Smith Th
Page 19 and 20: LANDSCAPE Grace Cossington Smith Ea
Page 21 and 22: LANDSCAPE Grace Cossington Smith Fo
Page 23 and 24: FLOWERS Grace Cossington Smith Poin
Page 25 and 26: RELIGION Grace Cossington Smith Chu
Page 27 and 28: INTERIORS Grace Cossington Smith In
Page 29: INTERIORS Grace Cossington Smith In

Grace Cossington Smith - National Gallery of Australia

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