Cossington Smith, Grace (1892 - 1984)

She studied with Dattilo Rubbo at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales in 1910 and attended drawing classes at the Winchester School of Art, England and at Stettin, Germany 1912-4. She returned to Sydney and to classes with Rubbo in 1914. Her work reflects her middle-class suburban life devoted to painting and depicting the environment about her. She was primarily concerned with form and colour, and with giving her images a spiritual quality. She portrayed flowerpieces and sun-drenched domestic settings, as well as landscapes, streetscapes, views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and religious subjects. In 1938, following the death of her father, she moved from her garden studio to one inside the house, and began painting a series of  intimate views of her room. Cossington Smith died on 10 December 1984, aged 92.

 Reference: Bruce James, Grace Cossington Smith, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1990.