Title
The curve of the bridge
1928-1929
Artist
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Details
- Place where the work was made
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Sydney
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New South Wales
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Australia
- Date
- 1928-1929
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on cardboard
- Dimensions
- 110.5 x 82.5 cm board; 126.5 x 99.0 x 8.0 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner, black ink "G.Cossington Smith". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with funds provided by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales and James Fairfax AO 1991
- Location
- Naala Nura, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 1.1991
- Copyright
- © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith
- Artist information
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Grace Cossington Smith
Works in the collection
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About
One of Australia’s most celebrated 20th-century painters, Grace Cossington Smith was an important early exponent of modernism in Australia. Her work formed part of the first significant wave of Australian responses to European post-impressionism. A brilliant colourist, she drew her subject matter from the familiar surroundings of her home and her experience of Sydney city life, which she transformed into vibrant images of light-infused colour.
Throughout its construction, which was completed in 1932, the Sydney Harbour Bridge inspired many artists to redefine their visions of the city and the harbour by incorporating this new industrial structure. This painting shows the massive framework in mid-construction, emerging from the shores of North Sydney. It reveals Cossington Smith’s view of the bridge as a dynamic work-in-progress.
In a powerful translation of forms through colour and light, the painting radiates optimism and energy in a celebration of modern engineering and, more broadly, the modern age. The artist made many pencil studies onsite, which she inscribed with notes on colour, took back to her studio and transformed into an iconic expression of Sydney’s most enduring urban monument.
Cossington Smith shared her fascination with the experience of modernity with artists such as American Georgia O’Keeffe and fellow Australian Margaret Preston, revealing modernism to have been a global experience. Their art was part of a transcultural and transcontinental flow of ideas about abstraction and modernism.
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Places
Where the work was made
Sydney
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Audio
The curve of the bridge - Grace Cossington Smith 1:14
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Exhibition history
Shown in 11 exhibitions
An Exhibition of Paintings and drawings by Lionel T. Crawshaw, R.S.W., Mrs. Lionel Crawshaw and Grace Cossington Smith, Walker's Galleries, United Kingdom, 22 Apr 1932–12 May 1932
Art Treasures of Olympic Cities, Lausanne Olympic Museum, , 22 Jun 1993–03 Oct 1993
Great gifts, great patrons, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Aug 1994–19 Oct 1994
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 04 Mar 2005–13 Jun 2005
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 29 Jul 2005–09 Oct 2005
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006
Grace Cossington Smith: a retrospective exhibition (2005), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 11 Feb 2006–30 Apr 2006
Bridging Sydney, Museum of Sydney, Sydney, 16 Dec 2006–29 Apr 2007
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 12 Oct 2016–19 Feb 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 11 Mar 2017–11 Jun 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jul 2017–02 Oct 2017
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
Australian Art Quest, State Theatre,
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Bibliography
Referenced in 42 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Great gifts, great patrons: an exhibition celebrating private patronage of the Gallery, Sydney, 1994. no catalogue numbers
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Craig Bush, Look, 'Years of enrichment: The society reaches another milestone', pg. 12-15, Sydney, May 2009, 14.
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Art Gallery of New South Wales: highlights from the collection, Sydney, 2008, 92, 93 (colour illus.).
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Edmund Capon AM, OBE, 10 Masterpieces of Australian Painting, Sydney, 1993, (colour illus.).
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Paula Dredge, Margaret Sawicki, Steven Miller and Lindsay Parker, S.A. Parker Framing Works, 'Works in the collection with known Parker frames', pg. 27-68, Sydney, 2004, 37 (illus.), 42 (colour illus.).
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Laurie Duggan, Ghost nation: imagined space and Australian visual culture 1901-1939, 'The Bridge', pg. 110-117, St. Lucia, 2001, 113, (illus.). reproduced between pages 136-137
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Dinah Dysart, Art and Australia (Vol. 46, No. 3), 'Australianness: Daniel Thomas reflects on a lifetime spent on moving art beyond the margins', pg. 438-447, Sydney, 2009, 442 (colour illus.).
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Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Moderns', pg. 103-104, Sydney, 2000, 104, 114, 115 (colour illus.), 302.
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Deborah Edwards, Art treasures: candidate citites for the 2000 Olympic Games: Beijing, Berlin, Brasilia, Istanbul, Manchester, Sydney, 'The curve of the bridge', pg. 170, Lausanne, 1993, 170, 171 (colour illus.). cat.no. 6 Sydney
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Deborah Edwards and Vivienne Webb, Look, 'An icon of Sydney modernism', pg.18-19, Melbourne, Aug 1999, 18.
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Peter Gotting, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'To great and absent friends', pg. 14, Sydney, 01 Aug 2000, 14. See Curator's Worksheet for copy of article.
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Jane Hampson, Sun-Herald, 'Taking sport out of the picture', pg. 9, Sydney, 30 Jul 2000, 9 (colour illus.). NOTE: page 9 of Sunday Metro lift-out
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Deborah Hart, Grace Cossington Smith, 'A distinctive vision', pg. 26-55, Canberra, 2005, 39, 45, 130 (colour illus.), 131-133, 136, 140, 176.
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Kathryn Hendy-Ekers, Louise Chamberlin and Deryck Greenwood, Art-iculate: art for VCE units 1-4, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 151-153, Port Melbourne, 2009, 151 (colour illus.).
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Bruce James, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Light fantastic', pg. 11, Sydney, 02 Sep 2000, 11. NOTE: page 11 of Spectrum lift-out.
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Bruce James, Grace Cossington Smith, Sydney, 1990, 83 (colour illus.). plate no. 38
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Bruce James, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Grace Cossington Smith', pg. 40-51, Sydney, 2000, 40 (colour illus.), 44.
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian Collection: Painting and Sculpture', pg. 102-181, Sydney, 1999, 102 (colour illus.), 141 (colour illus.). The image on pg. 102 is in detail.
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Sandra Jane, Art is ... making, creating and appreciating 2, Milton, 1999, 222 (colour illus.).
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Heather Johnson, Australian Journal of Art (vol. XI), 'The problem of "gendered space": Roy de Maistre and Surrealism', pg. 85-108, Canberra, 1993, 88-89.
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Heather Johnson, Australian art collector, 'Private Pleasure, Public Gain - the influence of private collections', pg. 58-61, Ultimo, Apr 1998-Jun 1998, 58 (colour illus.), 59.
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Deborah Jones, The Weekend Australian, 'Australian Icons: masters of the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales', pg. 1, Sydney, 12 Aug 2000-13 Aug 2000, 1 (colour illus.), 4. This colour supplement is a 'Review Special' published for the 'Weekend Australian'. It consists of a four-page, colour wrap-around for the 'Weekend Australian Review'. 'The Australian' was the media sponsor for the AGNSW Exhibition 'Australian Icons', for the Olympic Arts Festival 2000.
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Caroline Mackaness, Bridging Sydney, Sydney, 2006, 167 (colour illus.).
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John Masters, Sydney moderns: art for a new world, 'From the sponser', pg. 8, Sydney, 2013, 8, 12 (colour illus.), 34, 154, 155 (colour illus.), 315, 324.
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Alan McCulloch and Susan McCulloch, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, St Leonards, 1994, 404 (colour illus.).
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Ewen McDonald, AGNSW Collections, 'From Colonialism to late Modernism', pg. 7-106, Sydney, 1994, 34, 35 (colour illus.).
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Bill Merrilees and Dale Miller, Retailing Management - A Best Practice Approach, Melbourne, 1996, front cover (illus.).
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Michael Moy, Sydney Harbour Bridge: Idea to icon, Ashgrove, 2006, 49 (colour illus.).
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Tomislav Nikolic, Look, 'The art that made me', Sydney, May 2018-Jun 2018, 24 (colour illus.).
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Barry Pearce., Foundation Newsletter #2, 'Grace Cossington Smith's "Centre of a city" c1925', Sydney, May 2003.
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Barry Pearce, Look, 'Jewel of a painting returns: Out of Australian sight for nearly ninety years', pg. 12-13, Sydney, Mar 2010, 12.
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Barry Pearce, Southern reflections: 10 contemporary Australian artists, 'An Introduction to Australian Art', pg. 34-42, Sydney, 1998, 37 (colour illus.). fig.no. 7
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Barry Pearce, Look: 1953-2003 celebrating 50 years, 'Presenting our own artists: how the AGS put balance into the Australian collection', pg. 42-44, Sydney, May 2003, 43 (colour illus.).
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Lisa Slade and Rachael Kirsten, Enter Art, Sydney, 2000, sheet number 4 (colour illus.). Education kit produced by the NSW Dept of Education and Training as teaching resource for primary school teachers.
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Susannah Smith, Look, 'Women's work: their diverse and significant contribution to the modernist art scene', pg. 13-15, Sydney, Aug 2013, 14.
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Jill Sykes, Look, ‘Barry Pearce’s next book-call it “segueing with intent”’, pg. 28-29, Sydney, Mar 2012, 28, 29 (colour illus.).
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Wayne Tunnicliffe and Deborah Edwards, Look, 'New Australia', pg. 24-27, Sydney, May 2012, 24, 27 (colour illus.),.
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Sydney Ure Smith and Leon Gellert (Editors), Art in Australia [series 3, no. 29], Sydney, Sep 1929, (illus.). plate no. 26; "'The Bridge Curve' (in possession of Mrs G. MacDermott.)"
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Judith White (Editor), Look, Melbourne, Apr 1999, cover (colour illus.), 5 (colour illus.). This image appearing on the cover is in detail.
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Judith White, art lovers: the story of the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1953-2013, 'Chapter 5: Be part of the art 1988-2000', pp. 111-138, Sydney, 2013, 2-3 (illus.), 115, 226, 227 (colour illus.).
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Jane Wynter, Look, 'Vale James Fairfax', Sydney, May 2017-Jun 2017, 17 (colour illus.).
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Editor Unknown (Editor), Australian artist, 'Australian Icons at the Art Gallery of New South Wales', pg, 4-5, Chatswood, Aug 2000, 5 (colour illus.).
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