Spowers & Syme

Touring Exhibition
13 Aug 2022 – 4 Jun 2023
A black and white drawing of a woman and child watching several balloons floating in the air

Ethel Spowers, Balloons, c.1920, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, gift of Chris Montgomery 1993

'Is it too great a truism to repeat that the best art is always the child of its own age?' — EVELINE W SYME

About

Celebrating the artistic friendship of Melbourne artists Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme, the National Gallery Touring Exhibition Spowers & Syme will present the changing face of interwar Australia through the perspective of two pioneering modern women artists.

The exhibition offers rare insight into the unlikely collaboration between the daughters of rival media families. Studying together in Paris and later with avant-garde printmaker Claude Flight in London, Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme returned to the conservative art world of Australia – where they became enthusiastic exponents of modern art in Melbourne during the 1930s and 40s.

Much-loved for their innovative approach to lino and woodcut techniques, Spowers & Syme showcases their dynamic approach through prints and drawings whose rhythmic patterns reflect the fast pace of the modern world through everyday observations of childhood themes, overseas travel and urban life.

Spowers & Syme is a National Gallery Touring Exhibition supported by Major Patron David Thomas AM, Visions of Australia, and the Gordon Darling Foundation. Spowers & Syme  is a Know My Name project.

Curator: Dr Sarina Noordhuis-Fairfax, Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings

Presented By

  • NGA Logo

National Tour Partner

  • Visions of Australia Logo

Major Patron

  • David Thomas AM

Publication Partner

Abstract image of several people skating on ice

Eveline Syme, Skating., 1929, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979

Ethel Spowers, School is out (detail) 1936, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra.

Eveline Syme, The Yarra at Warrandyte, 1931, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1977, © Estate of Eveline Syme

Eveline Syme, Sydney tram line, 1936, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1979, © Estate of Eveline Syme

Ethel Spowers The gust of wind c 1931, oil on linen, 45.5 x 36 cm, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, David Thomas OAM and Barbara Thomas Fund in honour of the philanthropy of Rupert Myer AM former Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia 2014

Dates & Venues

Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG), Canberra, ACT
13 Aug 2021 – 12 Feb 2022

Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, NSW
26 Feb – 29 May 2022

Geelong Gallery, Geelong, VIC
16 Jul – 16 Oct 2022

S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
3 Dec 2022 – 12 Feb 2023

QUT Art Museum, Brisbane, QLD
11 Mar – 4 Jun 2023

Publication

Spowers & Syme celebrates the artistic friendship of Melbourne artists Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme. Their prints, drawings and paintings – remarkable for their expressive energy – capture the zeitgeist of the interwar years. This beautifully illustrated catalogue traces their stories as two women from rival media families who pioneered modern printmaking in Australia.

Spowers and Syme were part of a newly independent generation of women artists able to travel widely and study with avant-garde teachers in England and France during the 1920s and 1930s. They brought back to Australia the spirit and knowledge of modern European art movements and techniques, which they shared through the expanding networks of art societies and private women’s clubs in Melbourne and Sydney. These remarkable women supported each other’s aspiration to become professional artists in a changing world and are now recognised for their significance as progressive artists dedicated to producing art that was truly of its time.

PUBLISHED AUGUST 2021
96 pages
240 x 194 mm
Full Colour | Hardback
RRP A$39.99
ISBN 978 0 646 84218 9

*Members discount available for publication purchases made at the Gallery in the Art Store only.

Purchase here
Colour photo of Spowers and Syme catalogue cover
Photo of catalouge Interior showing page with black and white artwork
Photo of Catalouge pages with colourful artwork and text
Photo of catalouge page showing colourful artwork and text
Photo of catalouge page showing colourful artwork and text
Photo of catalouge page showing colourful artwork and text

Learning Resources

Related

Major Exhibition

Know My Name
Making it Modern

Past Exhibition
Four panels of screens painted with oils, featuring various trees and flora

5 Aug – 8 Oct 2023

Know My Name: Making it Modern celebrates pioneering women artists who changed the course of modern art in Australia.

Major Exhibition

Know My Name
Making it Modern

Past Exhibition
Four panels of screens painted with oils, featuring various trees and flora

5 Aug – 8 Oct 2023

Know My Name: Making it Modern celebrates pioneering women artists who changed the course of modern art in Australia.

Australian Art /  Video

Reflecting on Know My Name

A video still of a woman speaking to the camera, standing in front of an artwork

Published 17 November 2020

Know My Name Women Artists

Know My Name

A woman is sitting in font of a large wall of many portraits in a large gallery space

Know My Name celebrates the work of all women artists with an aim to enhance understanding of their contribution to Australia’s cultural life.

Touring Exhibitions

For over three decades, the national collection has been shared in communities across Australia and the world through dedicated touring exhibitions.

Collection

Australian Art

Ongoing

In recognition of the National Gallery’s 40th anniversary, this major display tells wide-ranging and complex stories of Australian art.