A revolutionary exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales is fundamentally reshaping how we understand women's contributions to Australian art history. "Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940" features over 200 works by 50 Australian and New Zealand women artists, including Nora Heysen, the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald Prize.

The exhibition takes its provocative title from a 1920s critic who dismissed Australian artist Thea Proctor's work as "dangerously modern" after she returned from studying in London. Decades later, influential critic Bernard Smith further marginalized these pioneering women, dismissively calling them mere "messenger girls" who traveled to Europe and brought back new painting styles and techniques. This patronizing assessment ignored the fact that these artists were celebrated participants in the flourishing art scenes of Paris and London.

Many of these groundbreaking works faced deliberate destruction upon the artists' return to Australia. The conservative attitudes of the time led to tragic losses, including most of Edith Collier's nude paintings, which were burned by her disapproving father in New Zealand. This systematic erasure of women's artistic contributions has left significant gaps in our understanding of early modern Australian art.

The exhibition, which previously ran at the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide earlier this year, presents six must-see masterpieces that exemplify these artists' revolutionary approaches. Bessie Davidson's "Fillette au perroquet" (Little Girl with Parrot) from 1913 showcases her dramatic shift from dark tonal realism to vibrant, light-filled compositions after she permanently moved to Paris in 1910. Davidson established herself as a major figure in the Parisian art world, co-founding the Salon des Tuileries in 1923 and serving as vice-president of La Société Femmes Artistes Modernes from 1930.

Perhaps the most remarkable discovery is Justine Kong Sing's tiny self-portrait "Me" from around 1912, measuring just 6.1 x 4.5 centimeters. Kong Sing, believed to be the first professional Chinese Australian female artist, scraped together money working as a governess to travel to Europe at age 43. During the exhibition's Adelaide run, a public appeal uncovered four previously unknown miniatures in a distant relative's home, doubling the known surviving works by this pioneering artist. In a 1914 letter, Kong Sing described the liberation she felt in London, where "no one noticed her," contrasting sharply with the racial prejudice she endured in Australia.

Dora Meeson's "Thames at Chelsea Reach" from around 1913 demonstrates how these women challenged artistic conventions. As a suffragette who organized fellow artists and designed banners for marches, Meeson chose to paint outdoors partly out of necessity – she shared a cramped Chelsea studio with her husband, fellow artist George Coates. Her silvery-grey Thames scenes, painted with bold, evident brushwork, tackled what was then considered masculine subject matter while capturing the atmospheric effects of London's fog and industrial smog.

Margaret Preston's "A View of the Irish Coast" represents a crucial turning point in Australian modernism. In 1914, Preston spent eight months in the remote Irish village of Bonmahon (now Bunmahon), where she, partner Gladys Reynell, and Edith Collier all painted the coastal landscape. Preston returned with a class of over 20 women artists in 1915, but German submarine attacks on British ships led to a government ban on coastal paintings for security reasons. This Irish period marked Preston's evolution from tonal painting to incorporating influences from Japanese prints and French art, using black outlines and diagonal compositions that would seed Australian modernism in the 1920s.

Agnes Goodsir's "Type of the Latin Quarter" from around 1926 reveals the coded queer symbolism that conservative Australian critics completely missed. The painting depicts her partner, American musician Rachel Dunne (nicknamed Cherry), wearing a ring on her pinky finger – a symbol recognized in 1920s Paris circles as a sign of lesbian identity, suffragettes, or first-wave feminists. When Goodsir exhibited this work in Australia in 1927, critics praised its realism while failing to recognize its radical underpinnings.

Stella Bowen's powerful self-portrait from around 1928 captures an artist at a personal and professional crossroads. After moving from Adelaide to London at age 20 in 1914, Bowen mixed with literary luminaries including T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, and Gertrude Stein. Her relationship with writer Ford Madox Ford, 20 years her senior, was ending when she painted this penetrating self-examination. The work shows her in a paint smock, eyes fixed directly on the viewer, embodying her determination to "find her shape again" as an independent artist.

"These artists really wanted to be on the world stage," explains Elle Freak, associate curator of Australian art at the Art Gallery of South Australia. "The national art school L'École des Beaux-Arts in Paris opened to women in 1897, creating new professional opportunities. Within bohemian circles, they had more freedom to live politically, culturally, artistically, and sexually."

Wayne Tunnicliffe, acting director of collections at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, emphasizes the artists' commitment to their craft: "They were dedicated to being artists and wanted their art to be seen and experienced. They really pushed it out there into the world." This determination often meant repeatedly traveling between Europe and Australia to exhibit and sell their work, despite facing conservative criticism at home.

The exhibition reveals how these women's European experiences represented both professional breakthroughs and personal transformations. Many painted self-portraits during this period, using the intimate format to work through their evolving identities as modern women and professional artists. Their travels allowed them to escape the restrictive social expectations of early 20th-century Australia and embrace new artistic possibilities.

"Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940" continues at the Art Gallery of New South Wales through February 15, offering visitors a chance to rediscover these overlooked pioneers who fundamentally shaped modern Australian art despite decades of critical dismissal and institutional neglect.