‘I hope this text will be the start of a wider and deeper appreciation of what these artists did, and the many obstacles they overcame.’ Jane Sullivan
It is hard for us to imagine the oppressed lives of single women in the first half of the twentieth century. Yet a few determined Australian women took a leap into the unknown and carved careers for themselves in Paris.
They studied, painted, and haunted galleries and salons. They exhibited in the Paris Salons and in private galleries on the Left Bank. They received prizes and awards out of all proportion to their numbers. And they brought back to Australia not only greatly enhanced skills but also Modernism – to a country that had barely heard of it.
This book examines a selection of the best artists among them, including some who have all but been forgotten, giving them back their rightful place in Australian art history.
- Dorrit Black
- Stella Bowen
- Ethel Carrick
- Evelyn Chapman
- Grace Crowley
- Anne Dangar
- Bessie Davidson
- Moya Dyring
- Madge Freeman
- Bessie Gibson
- Agnes Goodsir
- Anne Alison Greene
- Vida Lahey
- Dora Meeson
- Mary Cockburn Mercer
- Alice Muskett
- Hilda Rix Nicholas
- Kathleen O’Connor
- Margaret Olley
- Ada May Plante
- Margaret Preston
- Betty Quelhurst
- Iso Rae
- Gladys Reynell
- Janet Cumbrae Stewart
- Constance Stokes
- Jessi Traill
- Marie Tuck
