Quaker girl
(1915)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
67.0 × 51.6 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Presented by the National Gallery Society of Victoria, 1967
© Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
Gallery location
Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
Grace Cossington Smith, a quiet young woman from a well-to-do and conservative background, was at the vanguard of the modern movement in Australia. After initial art studies with Antonio Datillo Rubbo in Sydney, she travelled to England and Germany with her family in 1912, and on her return in 1914 resumed her studies. Her early paintings, such as Quaker girl, were based on her immediate surroundings and regularly depicted her sister, Madge, engaged in domestic or leisurely activities. Using a Post-Impressionist technique of applying paint in short, tight, choppy strokes, Smith was acknowledged by her contemporary critics as being ‘in sympathy with what is known as the modern movement’.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in blue paint l.l.: G.C.Smith
Accession Number
1763-5
Department
Australian Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Vizard Foundation
Subjects (general)
Daily Life Human Figures Portraits
Subjects (specific)
bonnets (hats) domestic cat (species) folk costume girls Quaker seated figures youth (people)
Movements
Post-Impressionism