Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940 is a major curatorial collaboration between the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), casting new light on fifty pioneering women artists whose bold vision and international careers have long been overlooked.
Opening at AGSA in Adelaide from 24 May to 7 September 2025, before travelling to Sydney’s AGNSW from 11 October 2025 to 1 February 2026, Dangerously Modern presents more than 200 works—spanning painting, printmaking, sculpture and ceramics—by both celebrated and rediscovered women artists who contributed profoundly to the development of modernism.
These women, once dismissed as mere “messenger girls” by influential art historian Bernard Smith, were anything but peripheral.
They were audacious, ambitious, and fiercely independent—artists who challenged aesthetic conventions and societal expectations in equal measure.
Part of a broader wave of women who travelled to Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, these artists built international reputations by studying and exhibiting in the cultural capitals of London and Paris. Embracing radical new ideas and techniques, they found professional and creative success abroad—yet many remain little known on home soil.
Far more than a traditional art exhibition, Dangerously Modern is an immersive journey through colour, light, movement and emotion. Visitors will encounter works that range from monumental public statements to intimate diary-like pieces—offering glimpses of love, grief, transcendence, and artistic triumph.
The exhibition also expands the narrative of modern art movements, from realism and impressionism to cubism and abstraction, highlighting how these Australian artists were in conversation with—and sometimes ahead of—their European peers.
“Beginning as early as 1883, both the Art Gallery of South Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales started to acquire the work of women artists,” says Jason Smith, Director of AGSA.
“Dangerously Modern builds on the strengths of those collections, especially AGSA’s representation of South Australian-born modern women artists, such as Dorrit Black, Stella Bowen, Bessie Davidson, Nora Heysen, Margaret Preston, Gladys Reynell and Marie Tuck. We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Art Gallery of New South Wales on an exhibition that adds such depth to our understanding of Australian women artists during this period.”
The exhibition takes its name from a 1921 article by Thea Proctor, who, on returning to Sydney from London, found her work labelled as “dangerously modern.” That phrase, once intended as a critique, now serves as a banner of honour—acknowledging the courage of these artists who defied convention, embraced modernity, and reshaped the cultural landscape.
Importantly, Dangerously Modern also highlights the dynamic cultural exchange between Australia and its neighbours. The exhibition features work from New Zealand-born and European-born women whose lives and practices were closely linked to Australia’s evolving art scene.
For more information, tickets and programming details, visit agsa.sa.gov.au
