Grace Adela Williams Crowley (pronounced as in "slowly"; 28 May 1890 – 21 April 1979) was an Australian artist and modernist painter.

Early life and education

Grace Crowley was born in May 1890 in

Barraba, New South Wales Barraba is a town in the New England region of northern New South Wales, Australia. It was formerly the centre of Barraba Shire local government area, but most of this, including Barraba, was absorbed into Tamworth Regional Council in 2004. On ...

. She was the fourth child of Henry, a grazier, and Elizabeth (née Bridger). By 1900, her family had relocated to a

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

in Glen Riddle, Barraba, where she spent her time drawing people, cats, dogs,

kookaburra Kookaburras (pronounced ) are terrestrial animal, terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri language, Wira ...

s, and even her father's prize winning bullock. At about the age of 13, Crowley's parents sent one of her pen and ink drawings to ''

New Idea ''New Idea'' is a long-running Australian weekly magazine aimed at women, now published by Are Media. History The magazine was first published in 1902 by Fitchett Bros. The founder was Thomas Shaw Fitchett. It was subtitled A Women's Home Journal ...

'' magazine and she won a prize. As a child, Crowley received an informal education from the governess of her homestead. When this arrangement finished, Crowley and her sister were sent to a boarding school in Sydney. It was at this time that her uncle insisted she attend classes by

Julian Ashton Julian Rossi Ashton (27 January 185127 April 1942) was an English-born Australian artist and teacher. He is best known for founding the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney and encouraging Australian painters to capture local life and scenery ' ...

at the Sydney Art School, now the

Julian Ashton Art School The Julian Ashton Art School was established by Julian Ashton in 1890 as the "Academy Julian", (perhaps a reference to the Académie Julian in Paris) has been an influential art school in Australia. For a long time it was known as the Sydney Art ...

. Once a week she would attend a class with Ashton and practice her drawing skills, this was her first formal education in the arts. When Crowley returned to Glen Riddle, her desire to create art had diminished, partly as a result of her family's expectations of her role in the household and she quickly took on a lot of the household duties. In 1909 Ashton visited Crowley at the family farm and encouraged her artistic practice. In 1915, Crowley became a full-time student at the Sydney Art School and from 1918 to 1923 worked as Ashton's assistant. During her time at the school, Crowley studied alongside;

Ralph Balson Ralph Balson (1890–1964) was an English born Australian artist. Balson was a leading figure in the modernist movement and is credited with holding the first solo exhibition of abstract work in Australia. Balson, initially a plumber and house ...

, John Passmere,

Dorrit Black Dorothea Foster Black (23 December 1891 – 13 September 1951) was an Australian painter and printmaker of the modernism, Modernist school, known for being a pioneer of Modernism in Australia. In 1951, at the age of fifty-nine, Black was killed ...

, Herbert Badham,

Rah Fizelle Reginald Cecil Grahame (Rah) Fizelle (4 September 1891 – 25 October 1964) was an Australian artist and teacher. Biography Rah Fizelle was born in near Goulburn, New South Wales. After training at Teachers' College Sydney, Fizelle jointed the ...

, Gerald Lewars, Nancy Hall and John Tilam; regarded with Olive Crane and Myra Cocks as Ashton's "younger skilled brigade". In 1925 Crowley moved to France with her friend and fellow artist

Anne Dangar Anne Dangar (1 December 1885 – 4 September 1951) was an Australian painter and potter. Life and training Dangar was born in Kempsey, New South Wales, Kempsey, a town on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, daughter of Otho Dangar, who wa ...

. Crowley studied at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

and then took private lessons with

Beaux-Arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

portrait painter . From 1927 to 1929 she was enrolled at L'académie André Lhote under

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes, and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was bor ...

. Throughout the next few years she travelled throughout Europe and briefly studied under

Amédée Ozenfant Amédée Ozenfant (15 April 1886 – 4 May 1966) was a French cubist painter and writer. Together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier) he founded the Purist movement. Education Ozenfant was born into a bourgeois ...

and

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

. She moved back to Sydney in 1930.

Career

On her return to Australia, Crowley was one of the most experienced

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

artists in Australia, with a sophisticated understanding of

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

. In 1932 she briefly taught at the Black Modern Art Centre before it was closed down. She then went on to start her own school with Rah Fizelle, which was renamed as the Important Centre for Modern Art and was in existence for five years. After a relationship breakdown between Fizelle and Crowley, the school closed in 1937. Fizelle remained at 215a George Street, Crowley however set up a studio at her apartment at 227 George Street. In 1937, Crowley, Balson, Margel Hinder, Rah Fizelle and Eleonore Lange began planning a group exhibition which later came into fruition with fellow painters and sculptors, Frank Medworth, Dadsworth and Gerald Lewers (husband of

Margo Lewers Margo Lewers (19081978) was an Australian interdisciplinary abstract artist who worked across the media of painting, sculpture, tapestry, ceramics and the domestic arts. She was renowned for a number of major public commissions and for her la ...

) in ''Exhibition 1: Paintings and Sculptures''. The exhibition was opened by

H. V. Evatt Herbert Vere "Doc" Evatt, (30 April 1894 – 2 November 1965) was an Australian politician and judge. He served as a justice of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940, Attorney-General of Australia, Attorney-General and Minister for For ...

in the David Jones' Art Gallery in August 1939. In the early 1940s she was one of the first Australians to move into pure abstraction. With other participating artists including Rah Fizelle,

Frank Hinder Francis Henry Critchley Hinder (26 June 1906 – 31 December 1992) was an Australian painter, sculptor and art teacher who is also known for his camouflage designs in World War II. Early life and education Hinder was the fourth child of Enid ...

and Eleonore Lange, Balson and Crowley came together in the 1930s as leaders of the second phase of the modern movement in Australian art, developing the earlier ideas of

Roland Wakelin Roland Wakelin (17 April 1887 – 28 May 1971) was a New Zealand-born Australian painter and teacher. Early life Roland Shakespeare Wakelin was born on 17 April 1887 in Greytown, New Zealand, Greytown, New Zealand. He studied at Wellington Te ...

Roy De Maistre Roy De Maistre CBE (27 March 18941 March 1968) was an Australian artist of international fame. He is renowned in Australian art for his early experimentation with "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abs ...

and others at the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1949, Crowley spent a brief period teaching a course in abstract art at

East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...

. During this time and throughout the 1950s, Crowley was most productive. Exhibiting regularly from 1944 to 1954 with the Society of Artists and

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museum ...

, Crowley also participated in multiple group exhibitions including; ''Abstract Paintings Drawings Sculpture Constructions,'' David Jones Art Gallery, 1948; ''Contemporary Art Society – Eleventh Annual Interstate Exhibition'', 1949; and ''Abstract Compositions, Paintings, Sculpture'',

Macquarie Galleries Macquarie Galleries was a Sydney art museum, private art gallery established in 1925 by John Henry Young and Basil Burdett. It was located at "Strathkyle", 19 Bligh Street Sydney then moved to 40 King Street in 1945. From 1991 to 1993 it was lo ...

, 1951. In 1954 with Balson's retirement impending, Crowley purchased a house in High Hill,

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...

, in which she resided alongside her 227 George Street Studio. Only two known paintings were created between 1955 and 1959, an abandonment of geometric forms occurred in exchange for gestural brushwork. In 1960, Crowley and Balson travelled to galleries in England, France and America. A rapid turn in style occurred during this time of travel, notably in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

where both Crowley and Balson turned to pouring paint in a similar fashion to

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

. In August 1964 Balson died unexpectedly, marking the end of Crowley's art practice also. Crowley stayed at the High Hill residence until she purchased a unit in Manly. In honour of the forerunners of the modern abstract movement, in 1966 the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

held an exhibition which included Crowley and her colleagues such as Balson, Fizelle and Hinder. Shortly before her 85th birthday, in 1975 the Art Gallery of New South Wales opened its doors to the first retrospective of Crowley, comprising 25 paintings and 12 drawings. Elena Taylor, the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

's curator of Australian Painting and Sculpture, notes, "Crowley's long artistic journey over five decades from painter of traditional landscapes to avant-garde abstracts was extraordinary. While Crowley is still best known for her cubist paintings of the 1920s and 1930s, ''Grace Crowley: Being Modern'' includes works that have never before been exhibited and reveals the full extent of Crowley's contribution to Australian art.". Her Project 4 Exhibition followed shortly after. In the 1976 Australia Day Honours, Crowley was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for her services to Art. The National Gallery of Australia held a solo exhibition of her work in December 2006 to May 2007 called ''Grace Crowley – Being Modern''. Crowley is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

Death

Crowley died at her home in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

, on 21 April 1979 aged 89. She left a small body of works, three of which are held permanently in the

Cruthers Collection of Women's Art Cruthers Collection of Women's Art is a collection of more than 700 artworks by Australian women, held at the University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of W ...

in the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

Selected exhibitions

* 1930: ''A Group of Seven,'' with

Roy de Maistre Roy De Maistre CBE (27 March 18941 March 1968) was an Australian artist of international fame. He is renowned in Australian art for his early experimentation with "colour-music", and is recognised as the first Australian artist to use pure abs ...

, Enid Cambridge,

Grace Cossington Smith Grace Cossington Smith (20 April 189220 December 1984) was an Visual arts of Australia, Australian artist and pioneer of Modernist art, modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country. ...

and Frank Weitzel, Macquarie Galleries, March. * 1932: Solo Exhibition, Modern Art Centre, Sydney, June. * 1939: ''Exhibition I: Paintings and Sculptures''. David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, August. * 1966: ''Balson Crowley Fizelle Hinder''. Art Gallery of New South Wales, May. * 1975: ''Australian Women Artists – One Hundred Years: 1840–1940'', Ewing and George Paton Galleries, Melbourne, September. Art Gallery of New South Wales, October. National Gallery of Victoria, January. * May–September 2024: ''Grace Crowley & Ralph Balson'', National Gallery of Victoria"Exhibition review: Grace Crowley & Ralph Balson, NGV Australia"
by Gina Forley, 2 July 2024, artshub.com.au

References

External links

Grace Crowley
at the