I had never heard of this woman painter before – despite having a copy of the excellent “Women Artists” by Nancy Heller – which is a great starting-place for finding out about many unsung women artists. In Australia, apparently, there are examples of her work in most major art galleries.

However, the Antipodean world will hear more about her in a 2016/7 touring exhibition: O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism (in partnership with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe).  Starting next month (October 2016), this ground-breaking exhibition showcases the iconic art of Georgia O’Keeffe, one of the most significant American painters of the twentieth century, alongside modernist masterpieces by the celebrated and pioneering Australian artists Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith.

The gallery of New South Wales has much to see and enjoy about this woman’s works..

I like still-lifes and interesting words so of course I couldn’t resist her casually named work “Things on an iron tray on the floor”.

I also enjoy and find intriguing the space in her “Interior with wardrobe mirror” – if you click on it, you can read her brief comments on love of colour and light. Also, the gallery has quietly commented that at this time, she chose to work with home settings, as her beloved sister was ill. In this picture, I see little echoes of Bonnard’s famous bathroom paintings, as he too was restricted to home by his wife’s illness.

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/OA11.1967/