Feature image: Hilda Rix Nicholas, The pink scarf 1913 | AGSA
The Art Gallery of South Australia has something very special in the works this winter. It’s painting a vivid picture of late 19th to early 20th century history, uncovering rarely seen works and untold stories of innovation and influence by Australian women artists.
AGSA and the Art Gallery of New South Wales are set to present Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940. Running from 24 May to 7 September, Dangerously Modern will display the achievements of women who ventured into the modernist movement, often overlooked and underestimated within their own homeland.
The exhibition will delve into an unwritten history book and bring to light the works of undiscovered women artists, while reliving works that became famous during the 50-year period.
Through today’s lens, the collection will redefine the often hidden influence these women had on the art world at the time, and uncover the inspiration they still render today.
The exhibition will unveil over 200 works from renowned and rediscovered women artists, covering a range of media including paintings, prints, sculpture, and ceramics. This spectrum of media explores themes of colour, light, form, and movement, encapsulating expressions of contemplation, love, loss, and transcendence.
Dangerously Modern features Australian women who excelled abroad in the arts, exhibiting in prominent European salons and academies during the early 20th century. Yet despite their success, they remain under-recognised in Australian art history.
At the turn of the twentieth century, these women joined a widespread movement to Europe, with many of the artists exhibited having built international careers by seizing opportunities that were newly available for women.
According to exhibition co-curators Elle Freak (Associate Curator of Australian Art, AGSA), Tracey Lock (Curator of Australian Art, AGSA), and Wayne Tunnicliffe (Acting Director of Collections, Art Gallery of NSW), the project aims to address the historical oversight.
The trio commented, “Dangerously misconceived, misunderstood and largely obscured from Australian art history, this project reconsiders the contributions of fifty women artists. Aligning with new scholarship, it challenges definitions of Australian art, recognising the active role of these women as catalysts for change, both at home and away.”
Both the SA and NSW galleries have a longstanding history of acquiring works by women starting as early as 1883, with AGSA notably collecting pieces by South Australian artists.
Director of AGSA Jason Smith said, “Dangerously Modern builds on the strengths of those collections, especially AGSA’s representation of South Australian-born modern women artists, such as Dorrit Black, Stella Bowen, Bessie Davidson, Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston, Gladys Reynell and Marie Tuck. We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Art Gallery of New South Wales on an exhibition that adds such depth to our understanding of Australian women artists during this period.”
The exhibition title itself comes from an article about Australian painter Thea Proctor, a sign of the times when returning to Sydney from London in 1921, her innovative art was regarded as ‘dangerously modern.’
While wandering the gallery, you can expect a global viewpoint, with the exhibition also featuring artists from New Zealand and Europe, illustrating the interconnected art networks that these women navigated and influenced.
A book accompanying the exhibition will delve further into these artists’ lives and works, documenting their paths to independence and recognition in a rapidly changing cultural landscape.
The collection of works by 50 women artists will adorn the gallery walls this winter, evoking stories of triumph, tragedy, and trailblazing art history.
Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940
Where: Art Gallery of South Australia, 490 North Terrace
When: 24 May – 7 September 2025
For more information and tickets, click here.
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