Artist of the day: Artist of the day, January 27, 2020: Grace Crowley, an Australian artist and modernist painter. (#901)

Grace Crowley (1890 – 1979) was born in New South Wales. She was the fourth child. By 1900, her family had relocated to a homestead in Glen Riddle, Barraba, where she spent her time drawing people, cats, dogs, kookaburras, and even her father's prize-winning bollock. At about the age of 13 Crowley's parents sent one of her pen and ink drawings to New Idea 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 at The Sydney Art School. Once a week she would attend a class 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 1918-1923 worked as Ashton’s assistant. In 1925 Crowley moved to France with her friend and fellow artist Anne Dangar. She moved back to Sydney in 1930.

On her return to Australia, Crowley was one of the most experienced Modernist artists in Australia, with a sophisticated understanding of Cubism. 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.

With other participating artists including Rah Fizelle, Frank Hinder, and Eleonore Lange, Balson and Crowley came together in the 1930s as leaders of the second phase of the modern movement in Australian art.

During this time and throughout the 1950s, Grace Crowley was most productive. Exhibiting regularly from 1944 and 1954 with the Society of Artists and Contemporary Art Society, Crowley also participated in multiple group exhibitions. In 1954 with Balson’s retirement impending, Crowley purchased a house in High Hill, Mittagong. Only two known paintings were created between 1955 and 59, an abandonment of geometric forms occurred in exchange for gestural brushwork. In 1960 Crowley and Balson traveled to galleries in England, France, and America. A rapid turn in style occurred during this time of travel, notably in Devon where both Crowley and Balson turned to pour paint in a similar fashion to Jackson Pollock.

In honor of the forerunners of the modern abstract movement, in 1966 the Art Gallery of New South Wales 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. Elena Taylor, NGA’s Curator of Australian Painting and Sculpture notes, "Crowley’s long artistic journey over five decades from a 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 January 1976, Crowley was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to Art.

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