DETAIL: Grace COSSINGTON SMITH,  'Interior in yellow', 1964, oil on composition board, National Gallery of Australia
 
 
Grace COSSINGTON SMITH | Portrait of Diddy
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COSSINGTON SMITH, Grace
Australia 1892 – Australia 1984
UK, Europe 1912-14; UK, Italy 1949-51
Portrait of Diddy c.1922
pastel, charcoal and pencil on paper
on paper
sheet 62.4 (h) x 47.2 (w) cm
signed lower left in pencil "G. COSSINGTON SMITH" . Not dated.
NGA 1974.159
VIEW: Article |

Some of Cossington Smith’s most successful portraits are her tender drawings of family members. Her close bond with her family is evident in her drawings of her father Ernest and her sisters Diddy and Madge, depicted in uncontrived, relaxed poses. In Portrait of Diddy her sister appears meditative, wearing the artist’s favourite colour, yellow. As she said: ‘Yellow is the colour of the sun’. This work was in an extremely fragile condition and is being shown for the first time since entering the Gallery’s collection, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Gallery’s conservators.

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