Late bloomer who changed art

Rosalie Gascoigne did not start exhibiting her work until she was fifty-seven, yet became one of Australia's most influential artists before her death in nineteen ninety-nine.

Timing met the art world's shift

Gascoigne held her first solo exhibition in nineteen seventy-six. Curator Deborah Hart said she hit the art world at just the right time, when installation art, minimalism and conceptual art were emerging.

Canberra dumps became her studio

Much of Gascoigne's work came from materials gathered from dumps near Canberra, including Gundaroo, Bungendore and Captain's Flat, which she brought home to reshape and transform.

Family saw decades of creation

Her daughter Hester Gascoigne said the exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra held pieces she remembered her mother creating over decades, showing remarkable progression.

Nature walks shaped her art

Gascoigne's husband Ben was an astronomer at Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra. Without a car initially, she walked the landscape, which curator Deborah Hart called the wellspring and foundation of her art.

Gallery director saw her importance

Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said Gascoigne was an artist who both defined art history and encouraged people to look at art in a different way. The National Gallery acquired her work in nineteen seventy-six.

She grew younger with age

Gascoigne continued working late into her life, retaining a youthfulness that amazed those who knew her. Curator Hart said she became younger as she got older because she grew into her true self.

“She became younger as she got older, because she grew into her true self.”

Exhibition runs through February

The Rosalie Gascoigne exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra runs from October twenty-fourth to February fourteenth, celebrating her abstract works made from found objects.