Ep 3. Dangerously Modern: Dorrit Black
Update: 2025-08-27
Description
Dangerously Modern is a podcast from the Art Gallery of South Australia about the unprecedented wave of women artists who left a conservative Australia to pursue modern art in the early 20th century.
On this episode, we're following the journey of the magnificent Dorrit Black. Dorrit arrived in London in 1927 and embraced modernism in the new medium of lino cut printmaking. She went on to start her own Modern Art Centre in Sydney in the 1930s and inspired the next generation of artists. But professional rivalry and her status as an ‘unmarried daughter’ would challenge her autonomy and legacy.
· Works and artists mentioned in this episode:
Dorrit Black
The eruption (c.1929-30) by Dorrit Black
Mirmande (1928) by Dorrit Black
Mirmande (1928) by Grace Crowley
Anne Dangar’s Mirmande
The Bridge (1930) by Dorrit Black
Claude Flight
Andre Lhote
· This podcast is inspired by the exhibition Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940
· Dangerously Modern is also a book featuring 50 trailblazing artists, co-published by AGSA and AGNSW.
Credits
Special thanks to Elle Freak, Tracey Lock, Wayne Tunnicliffe, Denise Mimmocchi and ADS Donaldson. This episode was produced and presented by Rosa Ellen with sound engineering by Melissa May, original music by Margie Jean Lewis and other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Image detail: Dorrit Black, The Bridge, 1930, Sydney, oil on canvas on board, 60.0 × 81.0 cm; AGSA
On this episode, we're following the journey of the magnificent Dorrit Black. Dorrit arrived in London in 1927 and embraced modernism in the new medium of lino cut printmaking. She went on to start her own Modern Art Centre in Sydney in the 1930s and inspired the next generation of artists. But professional rivalry and her status as an ‘unmarried daughter’ would challenge her autonomy and legacy.
· Works and artists mentioned in this episode:
Dorrit Black
The eruption (c.1929-30) by Dorrit Black
Mirmande (1928) by Dorrit Black
Mirmande (1928) by Grace Crowley
Anne Dangar’s Mirmande
The Bridge (1930) by Dorrit Black
Claude Flight
Andre Lhote
· This podcast is inspired by the exhibition Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940
· Dangerously Modern is also a book featuring 50 trailblazing artists, co-published by AGSA and AGNSW.
Credits
Special thanks to Elle Freak, Tracey Lock, Wayne Tunnicliffe, Denise Mimmocchi and ADS Donaldson. This episode was produced and presented by Rosa Ellen with sound engineering by Melissa May, original music by Margie Jean Lewis and other music from Blue Dot Sessions.
Image detail: Dorrit Black, The Bridge, 1930, Sydney, oil on canvas on board, 60.0 × 81.0 cm; AGSA
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