Grace Crowley and Ralph Balson

Instrumental in the development of abstract art in Australia, Grace Crowley and Ralph Balson were extraordinary artists whose collaborative practice resulted in two of the most compelling bodies of work in Australian art history.

Crowley studied in Paris between 1926 and 1929 with Cubist artists André Lhote and Albert Gleizes, and her style was greatly influenced by their Cubist teaching. Upon her return to Sydney, Crowley played a pivotal role in the dissemination of modernist principles. English-born Balson, a trained plumber and house painter, moved to Australia when he was twenty-three.