Grace Cossington Smith - National Gallery of Australia

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Grace Cossington Smith Study of a head: self portrait 1916
PORTRAITS Grace Cossington Smith Study of a head: self portrait 1916 oil on canvas on board The Holmes à Court Collection, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, Perth The portraits by Grace Cossington Smith are intimate, descriptive and perceptive. She was not interested in producing large, formally posed portraits. Members of her family sitting and reading, friends, and children of friends were the subjects of her gentle, intuitive portraits. Many studies of her family lounging in cane armchairs fi ll her sketchbooks; she delighted in the interplay between the lineal structure of the chair and the soft silhouette of the body. Painted as an art student in her early twenties, Study of a head: self portrait 1916 suggests the young artist’s vitality and determination, along with her love of colour and structure. Cossington Smith’s sensuous use of vibrant blues, greens and rosy pinks, along with the dramatic passages of light and dark anticipate her later work. Her characteristic style, with fan-like brushstrokes, had not developed at this early stage of her career; instead she uses bright dabs of colour, demonstrating her awareness of British and European Post-Impressionism gleaned primarily from her classes with Anthony Dattilo Rubbo at his atelier in Rowe Street, Sydney. Visual analysis Note the use of parallel diagonals to animate the composition. The collar, jaw line, nose and parting in her hair form diagonals that counterpoint the strong compositional line from bottom left to top right. Her dark hair is balanced by the dark, bottom right-hand corner. The artist separates the cheek from the background with a bright edge of light paint. Discussion points •What characteristics of Post-Impressionism are evident in this portrait? •What does this portrait convey about the artist?
Page 1 and 2: Grace Cossington Smith A RETROSPECT
Page 3: GRACE COSSINGTON SMITH BIOGRAPHICAL
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 and 30: INTERIORS Grace Cossington Smith In
Page 31: TRAVEL Grace Cossington Smith Top d

Grace Cossington Smith - National Gallery of Australia

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