The Bridge

Dorrit Black was an Australian painter and printmaker of the Modernist school, known for being a pioneer of Modernism in Australia. She was a passionate advocate for Modern art and dedicated the rest of her life to teaching, promoting, and practicing Modernism in Australia. She established the Modern Art Centre in Sydney in 1931, the first gallery in Australia to devote itself to Modernism. It was also among the first galleries in Australia to be established by a woman. As an artist, Black created linocuts in the 1930s, watercolors in the late 1930s, and then returned to working in oils.

She is noted for her painting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at various stages of construction. The painting we present today was Australia’s first Cubist landscape. The view is taken from Sydney’s Balls Head Reserve and captures a side elevation of the two incomplete curved arches of the bridge, the harbor waters in the center, and houses in the foreground. Black captured a spirit of excitement and celebrates the dramatic engineering advancements being made during the Great Depression and giving the Sydney community hope for the future.

P.S. Check our quick overview of Australian art through time!

P.P.S. To see more brave women artists, check out our Women Artists 50 Postcard Set in the DailyArt Shop.  :)