In a famous article published some decades ago, Linda Nochlin posts the rhetorical question, "Why were there no great women artists?" Her point was not to suggest that there weren't any great women artists. We know that there were, but rather, her point was to highlight the enormous obstacles in artistic education, in workshop practice, any number of social obstacles for women pursuing the professional vocation of artist.
Yet, in Australia, between the two wars, it was women painters who spearheaded the bringing to this country of European modernism, and this group of compelling, small scale, intimate self portraits by Stella Bowen, Nora Heysen, and Grace Cossington Smith bring that theme into vivid focus.