<strong>Grace</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> Portrait <strong>of</strong> Diddy c. 1922
FAMILY <strong>Grace</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> Portrait <strong>of</strong> Diddy c. 1922 pastel, charcoal and pencil on paper <strong>National</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Australia</strong>, Canberra Purchased 1974 <strong>Grace</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> was the second <strong>of</strong> fi ve children – she had three sisters and a brother. Her mother, also named <strong>Grace</strong>, was a cultured woman with a love <strong>of</strong> music and languages; her father, Ernest, was appointed Crown Solicitor <strong>of</strong> New South Wales in 1890 and later established his own fi rm. Theirs was a close, supportive family. The family liked nicknames: Margaret was known as Madge and Charlotte as Diddy. <strong>Cossington</strong> was the name <strong>of</strong> the ancestral home <strong>of</strong> the artist’s mother in Great Britain, and it was the name given to the house where <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> was born on 22 April 1892, in Neutral Bay in Sydney, and later to the family home in Turramurra. <strong>Cossington</strong> was also the name the artist adopted in the 1920s, when she began signing her work as <strong>Grace</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>. <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>’s ability to draw was recognised while she was at school. The Head Mistress <strong>of</strong> Abbotsleigh, who encouraged <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>’s art education, gave her a gift <strong>of</strong> four art books on her graduation from school. Her parents took it for granted that their second daughter would study art and that she would become a pr<strong>of</strong>essional artist, not just a genteel amateur painter. <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> began drawing classes with Anthony Dattilo Rubbo in 1910, at the age <strong>of</strong> 18. During her fi rst year <strong>of</strong> tuition <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> began the practice <strong>of</strong> drawing in sketchbooks. A sketchpad, pencils, crayons and pastels are easily transported and are non-intrusive, enabling the artist to sit and draw within the intimacy <strong>of</strong> the family circle. The <strong>National</strong> <strong>Gallery</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Australia</strong> owns 52 <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>’s sketchbooks, dating from 1910 to the 1950s. The artist made drawings for a variety <strong>of</strong> purposes: as fi nished works <strong>of</strong> art, as sketches for later paintings, as investigations <strong>of</strong> form and composition, as travel documentation and as intimate records <strong>of</strong> family life. Diddy was a favourite subject to draw, as she could maintain a pose while deeply absorbed in a book. She had a close bond with <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> and was also interested in art, having studied woodcarving with Eirene Mort. Diddy worked as a nurse at the Parramatta Hospital and in later life <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> spent many years nursing her at home after she suffered a stroke. Visual analysis In Portrait <strong>of</strong> Diddy <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> concentrates the viewer’s attention on the face by framing it between the two parallel horizontal lines <strong>of</strong> the hat and the lower edge <strong>of</strong> the collar. The diagonals <strong>of</strong> the collar lead the eye to Diddy’s pensive, downcast face. Even at this early date it is possible to see how <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong> challenged accepted drawing practice by using a repeated vertical stroke that defi nes the form with colour, rather than by following the contours <strong>of</strong> the object. This device can be seen much later in the painting Interior in yellow 1962, 1964. Discussion points •Describe <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>’s family and the artist’s place in it. •Discuss the different roles drawing took in the work <strong>of</strong> <strong>Cossington</strong> <strong>Smith</strong>.