International Women's Day - Dorrit Black

Dorothea Black (1891-1951) is one of Australia’s most highly recognised modern artists. Born and raised in Burnside, she studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts and the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. Modernism was not always popular, but Black continued to paint, exhibit and teach modernist art principles throughout her life.

She painted from her house in Magill, painted landscapes of the Adelaide Hills, taught at the School of Arts and Crafts, was on the committee of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts in 1938, vice-chair of the Contemporary Art Society of South Australia and was an active member of the Australian Labor Party. She worked across mediums – watercolour, oil, still life, portraiture and landscapes. Dorrit is buried with her family at the Historic Magill Wesleyan Cemetery.

Photograph: Dorrit Black, 1921, photograph by Judith Fletcher.