Visual art / Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar. At National Gallery of Australia, until April 27. Reviewed by SOPHIA HALLOWAY.

When I first sat down to write a review of the National Gallery of Australia’s parallel exhibitions, Ethel Carrick and Anne Dangar, I was at odds about whether to review them separately or together.

There is certainly an abundance of material, demonstrated by the two heavy catalogues, one for each artist. The exhibitions were curated separately, by Dr Deborah Hart and Dr Rebecca Edwards, respectively. On the NGA website, they are presented as two distinct exhibitions.

Yet, the fact that Carrick and Dangar have been so purposefully exhibited together, in a temporary exhibition gallery usually dedicated to a single exhibition (and a ticketed summer blockbuster, at that), invites a reading of these shows as a pair.

The connections between the two artists are tenuous. Carrick and Dangar didn’t know each other during their lifetimes. There are similarities – they are both women, both born in the late 19^th century and dying within a year of each other in the 1950s. Both women spent formative periods working in Paris and had careers interrupted by war.

However, the cultural influence of French art and the disruption of World War I is arguably a factor for many artists working during the same period.

What sets Carrick and Dangar apart are their contributions to Australian art history. Dangar was the only Australian to meaningfully contribute to Cubism in France and the first to teach Cubism in Australia, influencing Australian Modernism. Carrick introduced Post-Impressionism to Australia.

The two exhibitions form a part of the NGA’s Know My Name initiative to celebrate the work of women artists. Meticulously researched and beautifully presented, the exhibitions are successful in demonstrating why such an initiative is important.

Elevating the work of women artists is not merely about developing exhibitions and collections which better reflect our communities. To do so is important because a diverse representation of artists enriches our experience and understanding of art and life.

This is evident in Carrick’s scenes of flower and vegetable markets and seaside resorts, or Dangar’s enamelled Tabletop based on a girl’s drawing of a woman and child in spring. These are subjects which would usually be overlooked by male artists, but which undoubtedly enrich our cultural lives.

In the summer of 2019, the same gallery space was dedicated to another Post-Impressionist and Cubist duo you might have heard of – Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. In this instance, the coupling of the two artists was made on the much stronger basis of their artistic relationship.

Matisse and Picasso are big enough names to command shows of their own and indeed are endlessly rolled out every few years among a rota of the big (male) names in Modernism. The pairing of Matisse & Picasso  could be an attempt to break this monotony by approaching the same tired names with a fresh perspective, by excavating the rivalry between the two men which drove their own practices forward and changed the course of Modern art.

In the case of Carrick and Dangar, despite their artistic achievements, one can’t help but feel that they were brought together simply because they are both women and both artists. Like Carrick’s scenes of crowds enjoying Christmas Day on Manly beach, she and Dangar are having their day in the sun – but for now, it’s a spotlight they’ll have to share.