National Gallery of Victoria staff preparing a 1939 Grace Crowley painting for exhibition have uncovered another work hidden inside it, by her close collaborator Ralph Balson.
The Balson artwork is on show for the first time at NGV Australia, hung next to the painting by that concealed it for decades, as part of the first major exhibition dedicated to the two artists' creative alliance.
"It's pretty exciting, it's a phenomenal work as well ... this painting has been hiding inside for over 40 years," said curator Beckett Rozentals.
Crowley's semi-abstract Portrait has been in the gallery's collection since 1981, but it was not until Rozentals and her colleague, conservator Raye Collins, examined the painting in 2020 that they discovered more than meets the eye.
The Portrait canvas was attached directly to its frame, and the back of the painting was covered with a protective grey backing board. They lifted the board away to find the Balson painting on the other side.
Finding a painting within a painting is the stuff of dreams for gallery staff, but in some ways it's not so surprising - the close partnership between the artists is one of the most significant collaborations in Australian art history.
"Grace Crowley and Ralph Balson were extraordinary artists whose partnership and collaborative practice had an indelible influence on the trajectory of modern art in this country," NGV director Tony Ellwood said.
The pair worked together for decades, each painting some of Australia's earliest and most important abstract artworks, and were so close that for many years Crowley used her distinctive geometric lettering to sign Balson's paintings for him.
They met in the early 1920s when Balson, a self-taught artist who had emigrated from England and worked as a house painter, started night classes at Sydney Art School where Crowley was teaching at the time.
Later that decade Crowley studied painting in Paris, and in 1930 returned to Sydney to establish an art school where she disseminated the cutting-edge ideas of European Modernism.
Through more than 80 artworks the exhibition charts the development of the two painters, in Crowley's case from post-impressionist and cubist works through to non-representational painting, and in Balson's case, towards abstract expressionist pouring techniques.
She and Balson shared techniques, paint and even painting surfaces. Several of the exhibited artworks are installed on plinths to show off both sides, a Crowley on one, and a Balson on the other - in one case with amusing results.
Balson's 1946 Constructive Painting is displayed with Crowley's (Linear Rhythm) on the reverse side, but due to its orientation the Crowley is exhibited upside-down.
Happily, being abstract art, perhaps this doesn't matter as much as it usually would.
The duo was part of the nation's first exhibition of semi-abstract painting and sculpture, Exhibition 1, held at Sydney's David Jones Gallery in 1939.
Then in 1941, Balson's solo show at Anthony Horden's Fine Art Gallery was Australia's first exhibition comprised wholly of pure abstraction.
Seven of the joyful paintings from this historic show are hung together at the NGV. At the time, not a single one of them sold.
Abstraction was a lonely pursuit in Australia, which was "not particularly receptive" to the monumental breakthroughs Crowley and Balson had achieved, said Rozentals.
"In Australia, they're feeling very closed off, they feel the life of an abstract painter is incredibly difficult, but despite this they keep on working together," she said.
Their collaboration continued until Balson's death in 1964, after which Crowley promoted his career over her own, ensuring his paintings would be acquired by institutional galleries and minimising her contribution to their partnership.
The exact nature of their relationship remains a mystery, but a final wall in the gallery displays nine of their typical "constructive" works, exulting in vibrant shape, colour and movement.
Which artist painted which painting? It's almost impossible to tell.
Grace Crowley & Ralph Balson is on display until September 22 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in Melbourne.
