Lesley Dumbrell

In the summer of 1999–2000 Dumbrell was the subject of a focused survey exhibition, Shades of Light: Lesley Dumbrell 1971–1999 at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at The University of Melbourne. Coinciding with her return to Australia, this exhibition examined the development of Dumbrell’s art in the context of an international mode of abstraction with which a young generation of Australian artists was engaged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dumbrell’s participation in the rise of the women’s art movement in the mid 1970s, and the ways in which her non-representational paintings articulate the interconnection of art and life.

In her works from 1999 to 2003 Dumbrell has continued to synthesise her experiences of Thailand and other Asian nations through colour, light and patterns that are culturally and symbolically specific. Indochine represents the culmination of this period of observation and profound sense of place, and respect for cultural difference.

Jason Smith
Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria
Excerpt from exhibition catalogue

Lesley Dumbrell
Australia 1941
Indochine, 2003
oil on canvas
2 panels: 183.0 x 137.0 cm each
Courtesy of the artist