B. 1881 – 1967 

Jessie Traill represents one of Australia’s most important interwar printmakers. Known for her etchings of industrial subjects and lyrical landscapes, she was born into a wealthy family with an interest in the arts. After studying at the National Gallery School, she travelled extensively through Australia, England and France, gaining an affection for the art nouveau movement in Paris. 

Traill was a trailblazer. She was the first white artist to depict and exhibit landscapes of Central Australia and famously depicted the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then the biggest industrial undertaking in Australian history. Her etchings of the feat play an important role in the history of the bridge, how it symbolised the strength and optimism of modernism. 

Traill never married, choosing instead to live with her sisters and travel the world. In 2013, the National Gallery of Australia launched a retrospective in her honour and she is represented across public collections, an important entry in the development of printmaking and modernism in Australian art.

To read a more in-depth biography of the artist, click here.