Genteel Tea Rooms

Bright and shiny new bars must have been a lovely sight in Sydney circa 1935. You can imagine artist Grace Cossington Smith coming across this scene and being captivated by the room’s form and colour.

The painting is all about the chairs. Scarlet chairs surrounded by emerald green. I wonder who designed them?

She said about the painting: What I did like tremendously, was the contrast of white background and darker foreground with the people.

| Grace Cossington Smith, The Lacquer Room, 1935-6, |

I tried, in my painting below, to capture all the new jazzy feel of Cossington Smith’s painting. All that modernity. With those scarlet chairs.

| Julia Ritson, Grace 6/1018, 2010 |

Julia Ritson