Olive Cotton (1911 - 2003)

Teacup ballet, 1936, printed 1999

silver gelatin photograph

25.0 x 18.0 cm (image)
30.5 x 25.0 cm (sheet)
51.5 x 41.0 cm (frame)

edition: 5/90
signed on authenticity stamp verso by the artist's daughter Sally McInerney
bears inscription of title, date and edition number in stamp verso

Byron Mapp Gallery, Sydney (label attached verso)
Private collection, Melbourne

Seeing is believing – the art in photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 December 1985 – 19 January 1986, cat. 12 (another example)
Shades of Light: Photography and Australia 1839 – 1988, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 20 February – 22 May 1988 (another example)
Works from the Photography Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 10 February – 15 May 1989 (another example)
Australia Exposed: Highlights of Australian Photography, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 28 January – 18 April 1993 (another example)
A Century of Australian Women Artists, 1840s – 1940s, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 3 June – 3 July 1993, cat. 95 (another example, illus. in exhibition catalogue, p. 27)
In a certain light: Clarice Beckett and Olive Cotton, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 8 March – 15 April 1995 (another example)
Review: works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 8 March – 4 June 1995 (another example)
Olive Cotton: Photographs 1920s – 1990s, Deutscher Fine Art, Melbourne, 19 October – 11 November 1995, cat. 4 (illus. in exhibition catalogue, back cover)
Olive Cotton: Photographs 1920s – 1990s, Joseph Lebovic Gallery, Sydney, 21 October 1995, cat. 43 (another example)
Olive Cotton, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 May – 2 July 2000; National Library of Australia, Canberra, 12 July – 19 September 2000 (another example)
Soft Shadows and Sharp Lines: Australian photography from Cazneaux to Dupain, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 September – 17 November 2002 (another example)
Great Collections, Campbelltown Arts Centre, New South Wales, 12 December 2008 – 18 January 2009; Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, New South Wales, 6 February – 15 March 2009 (another example)
Sydney Moderns: Art for a New World, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 6 July – 7 October 2013 (another example)
Max and Olive: The photographic life of Olive Cotton and Max Dupain, National Gallery of Australia touring exhibition, Canberra, 18 March 2016 – 10 July 2017 (another example)
Call of the Avant-Garde: Constructivism and Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 5 July – 8 October 2017 (another example)
An unorthodox flow of images, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, 30 September – 12 November 2017 (another example)
Know My Name: Making it Modern, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 5 August – 8 October 2023 (another example)
Man Ray and Max Dupain, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 6 August – 9 November 2025, cat. 206 (another example)
Women Photographers 1900 – 1975: A Legacy of Light, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 28 November 2025 – 3 May 2026 (another example)

Newton, G., ‘Photography, Towards a dialogue with other media’, Australian Art Review, Warner Associates, Rozelle, 1982, 43 (illus., another example)
Hall, B. and Mather, J., ‘Olive Cotton,’ Australian Women Photographers 1840-1960, Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne, 1986, p. 84 (illus., another example)
Ennis, H., Masterpieces of Australian Photography, Joseph Lebovic Gallery, Sydney, 1989, cat. 246, pp. 142, 143 (illus., another example)
McDonald, E. and Capon, E., AGNSW Collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1994, p. 39 (illus., another example)
Ennis, H., Olive Cotton: Photographer, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1995, front cover (illus., another example), p. 25 (illus., another example)
Edwards, D., et al., Review: works by women from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1995, p. 17 (illus., another example)
Ennis, H., Olive Cotton, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2000, p. 24 (illus., another example)
Annear, J., Photography: Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, pp. 137, 141 (illus., another example)
McPhee, J., Great Collections, Museum & Galleries NSW, Sydney, 2008, p. 100 (illus., another example)
Hawley, J., Artists in conversation, Slattery Media Group, Richmond, 2012, pp. xxiv (illus., another example), 395, 398 – 401
Edwards, D., and Mimmocchi, D. (eds.), Sydney Moderns: Art For a New World, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2013, pp. 152 (illus., another example), 184, 293, 311
Ennis, H., Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography, Harper Collins, Sydney, 2019, p. 98 (illus., another example), 99 – 102, 177, 395, 414, 415, 423, 453
Larkin, S., Olive Cotton: Resisting Definition, National Gallery of Australia, 21 August 2023 (illus., another example), https://nga.gov.au/stories-ideas/olive-cotton-resisting-definition/ [accessed September 2025]
Devenport, R., et al., AGSA 500, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2024 (another example)
Harding, L., Man Ray and Max Dupain, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2025, pp. 190 (illus., another example), 192, 234 (illus., another example)

Other examples of this photograph are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide and the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane