For many Australian artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an exposure to French and Parisian traditions of art making was formative and profound, whether their time in Paris was fleeting or they were true émigrés, never to return to Australia. ‘The School of Paris’ was a term coined in reference to the wave of non-French artists from around the world who gravitated to this thriving centre of artistic activity. Initially drawn to the Montmartre district and then to Montparnasse in the south of the city, artists in this period explored a range of modern styles as they studied, exhibited and immersed themselves in a progressive and lively culture – and the great galleries and museums of the city.
In a variety of ways, the artists featured in this room, either through living and working in Paris themselves or through the teachings of others, were influenced by that city’s unique milieu in the heady decades before the outbreak of World War II, which catalysed a shift for many Western artists – across the North Atlantic to New York City.
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