On Monday 18 August, IWFA SA Director Sandy Verschoor hosted around 30 members and guests at the first major exhibition to focus on the vital role of Australian women in the development of international modernism. Dangerously Modern at the Art Gallery of South Australia explored the art and lives of fifty trailblazing artists.
New Director, Jason Smith and Co-Curators, Tracey Lock and Elle Freak, took the group on an after hours guided tour where they went behind the scenes and learned about an unprecedented wave of women artists journeying from Australia through Europe and beyond at the turn of the twentieth century. Women that prevailed against centuries of social constraints to pursue international careers. They were adventurous in their pursuits, overcoming significant costs and less visible barriers to achieve enormous acclaim in Europe.
Picture: Curators Wayne Tunnicliffe, Tracey Lock and Elle Freak
It was a conservative time in Australia where women were struggling to be acknowledged so, recognising this barrier, they went abroad where modern ideas were embraced enabling them to achieve creative and professional success. However, little was known about them, and they were ignored by historians with influential Australian art historian Bernard Smith dismissing them as ‘messenger girls’.
Until now.
The IWFA members were treated to 200 works of art sourced from both the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of NSW as well as through private collections. An audio element created specifically for the exhibition took the experience to another level.
Dangerously Modern included artistic explorations of colour, light, form and movement offering moments of contemplation, love, loss and transcendence. It reclaims the place of these artists and their contribution to the development of European art, and explores their role as catalysts for new ideas travelling back to Australia during a time of rapid social and cultural change.
