Lot 2

The work is in good condition overall consistent with age. The work has been inspected out of its current frame. The work is laid down onto backing card. Repair from minor tear seen in upper centre edge above the woman's head, and in the far upper left corner. Overall size 34 x 39cm. (LEONARD JOEL CONTACTLESS DELIVERY $88 within 20km of Melbourne premises)


The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to inspect articles for sale at our pre-sale viewing where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice.
Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Private collection, Melbourne

Watercolours and Woodcuts by Ethel Spowers, Grosvenor Galleries, Sydney, June 1926 (other example)

Woodcuts and Watercolours by Ethel Spowers, The New Gallery, Melbourne, 2 - 13 August 1927, cat. no. 28 (other example)

Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scolar Press, London, 1995, p.168 (other example)

The Green Bridge was created just before Ethel Spowers travelled to London in 1928 to study under the famed Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. At the time, Ethel was experimenting with new Japanese inspired techniques of woodblock printing influenced by her lifelong friend Eveline Syme. Her early prints can be characterised by an illustrative nature with recurring motifs of children and playtime, very reminiscent of her earlier works on paper where she depicted enchanting fairy-tale scenes inspired by children's books.
After returning to Australia in 1930, she had become a decidedly modern artist and spent much of her career promoting and advancing modernism in Australia.
Although her work had changed during this period, her fondness for children remained. The idea of 'children at play' was a theme that she consistently revisited throughout her career, even though she had moved on from the illustrative nature of her work in favour of Grosvenor's striking modernist style.
Like so many female artists of her generation, it was not until the later decades of the twentieth century that Spowers' work was 'rediscovered' and market interest was reinvigorated. Her contribution to the dissemination of modernist printing in Australia and influence on other artists of her generation cannot be overlooked and along with her counterparts Eveline Syme and Dorrit Black, she remains a critical figure during this period of art.

Ella Perrottet, Art Assistant