‘Dangerously Modern’ Celebrates Women Artists Who Conquered Europe’s Art Scene

A new chapter in Australia’s art history celebrates the first wave of Australian women artists who conquered the European art scene. In collaboration with the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales presents the landmark exhibition Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940.

From 11 October to 15 February visitors can witness 200 paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics and sculptures that chart the development of international modernism and the transformative ideas these women brought.

Dangerously Modern portrays Australia’s first in-depth look at the journey of fifty adventurous women artists who left home to train with Europe’s leading professionals, defying the gendered expectations of their time.

Art Gallery of New South Wales director Maud Page said the “fresh and vital chapter” this exhibition brings to Australian art history shows these artists not merely as “observers of modernism”, but, she added, “as active participants. Their work, ambition and courage have been under-recognised as central to Australia’s cultural story and to the global development of modern art. This exhibition brings that contribution into focus.”

The exhibition features renowned Australian artists such as Grace Cossington Smith, Grace Crowley, Nora Heysen and Margaret Preston, alongside underrated artists Eleanor Ritchie Harrison and Helen Stewart.

Dangerously Modern debuts rediscovered masterpieces

Debuting here are the remarkable post-impressionist paintings by Edith Collier, an Aotearoa–born artist who trained, lived and worked with Margaret Preston and her companion, Gladys Reynell.

Also featured are 100-year-old never-before-seen works and discoveries, including the only surviving major painting by high-profile nineteenth-century artist Eleanor Ritchie Harrison, and the earliest cubist landscape by an Australian artist, painted by Mary Cockburn Mercer in 1925.

“Dangerously Modern celebrates the bold impact of fifty groundbreaking women artists who made their mark in early 20th-century Europe,” explained Art Gallery of South Australia director Jason Smith. “It was born out of the strong collecting histories of both the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.”

The exhibition brings together diverse art movements and styles from the 19th and 20th centuries, immersing visitors in naturalism, impressionism, fauvism, cubism, realism and abstraction — all of which challenge our understanding of modern art.

It also reflects a period of immense societal and technological change, when these women studied, created and exhibited their work amid the rise of film, automobiles, aeroplanes, recorded music, radio and even the discovery of penicillin.

Dangerously Modern will also be accompanied by a richly illustrated book, highlighting the women’s exceptional art and extraordinary lives as they defied convention and built independent careers during a time of rapid social change.

Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940 is on at the Art Gallery of NSW from 11 Oct – 15 February.