Australian modernist Dorothy Braund pursued simplicity. As she described, it “knocked” her out – “there’s no chance for accidental effects. If you are simple everything has to relate and work” – an ethos that steered her attitude towards art, producing work that was more musical than literal, hymns about people, places and activities.

Throughout her oeuvre, Braund repeatedly returned to the beach. Like artists before and after her, she recognised the vital role the beach plays in Australian culture as well as the formal delights of bodies by water. Her beach-goers are pared back to warming boulders of flesh, beach umbrellas and stripes of swimwear, captured in a palette that is somehow both nostalgic and heightened. As art critic Bernard Shaw observed of her work in 1964, it is “linked with a shrewd and civilised eye for the bizarre and comical”, an awareness that simple does not necessitate serious.

Represented across state collections including at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Braund was a key figure in Australian modernism. She was a member of the George Bell School and the only woman to exhibit alongside Charles Blackman and his compatriots at the 1953 Herald Art Show. Masterly in her own way, she is an essential – and joyous – addition to collections of modern, formalist and female artists, a twist of the beachside scene.

Dorothy BRAUND (1926 - 2013)
'Umbrellas on the Beach' 1980
Gouache on paper
Image Size: 25 x 40 cm
Dimensions: 38 x 54 x 3 cm
 
Comes with Letter of Provenance
 
Condition: Very Good 
 
(c) Dorothy Braund / Copyright Agency