We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Grace Cossington Smith

Pylons supporting the metal frame of a bridge with water and distant buildings behind

Grace Cossington Smith The curve of the bridge 1928–29, Art Gallery of New South Wales © Estate of Grace Cossington Smith

The curve of the bridge 1928–29 

‘I always painted what was around me, what was there … I didn’t like to make things up.’ Grace Cossington Smith, 1982 

The construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was completed in 1932, inspired many artists to redefine their visions of the city and the harbour by incorporating this new industrial structure in their works. Grace Cossington Smith was heavily influenced by the presence of the bridge within the Sydney landscape. In The curve of the bridge, her powerful translation of forms through colour and light is evident, with the painting radiating optimism and energy in 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 expression of Sydney’s enduring and iconic urban monument. 

  • K–6 discussion questions

    • Do you recognise this bridge? Have you ever travelled over it by car or train? Cossington Smith painted and sketched this bridge when it was being built. She was fascinated by the skill of the people who built it and the shape of the bridge as it grew and stretched across the water. Research the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and think about how it was constructed. What would it have been like for the workers at the time?  

    • Look closely at the brush marks in this painting. What direction do they go in? Were they created quickly or carefully? How does the arrangement of different shades of blue in the sky relate to the curve of the bridge? What effects do you think Cossington Smith was trying to create through these brushstrokes?  

  • K–6 activities

    • Cossington Smith painted what she saw around her. Her paintings express a sense of joy. Walk around your local area and take photographs or draw something that interests you and brings you joy. Make a painting from your photographs or sketches. How does your painting communicate how you feel?  

    • Think about the colour palette Cossington Smith used for this painting. What colours are on it? Why do you think she chose these colours to paint the bridge? Look at how she puts different shades of the same colour next to each other. Make your own palette with opposite colours and use them in an artwork. 

  • 7–12 discussion questions

    • Cossington Smith is an important early exponent of modernism in Australia. Read about colour and light in early modernism in Sydney and other modernist artists of her time. What new techniques and styles did they develop? What inspired these artists to depict the world around them in this way? Describe some of the innovative ways they used colour, light and abstraction.   

    • At the time this work was painted, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the most ambitious engineering project undertaken in Australia. When completed in 1932, it was the largest single-arch bridge in the world. Cossington Smith’s painting is one of a series of works she made of the bridge in mid-construction. Compare it to one of her drawings of the same subject, Circular Quay from Milson’s Point (1929). How does the different medium change the way you see or understand the subject? What similarities in style, technique and colour do you notice? What is achieved when an artist revisits the same subject multiple times?  

  • 7–12 activities

    • Like Cossington Smith, many artists at the time were inspired to depict the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. See, for example, a selection of works shown in the exhibition Bridging Sydney, held at Museums of History New South Wales in 2022. Consider the different ways artists have depicted the bridge. What stages of construction do they depict? How does their work express how they feel about it? Find something that is under construction near you: a building, road or something being fixed in your school. Create your own artwork in response to this building project. 

    • In this painting, Cossington Smith merges advancements in art and technology, celebrating the modern age. Think about the technology you use today and create an artwork that combines and celebrates the art and technology of your own time.