This painting is rare, first in using art as a subject and secondly, in being painted on an easel. The idea was precipitated by a riotous game of charades on art titles (which included the famous Modernist classic, Nude descending a staircase No.2, 1912 by Marcel Duchamp) played between the Blackman and the Moore familyin a house with a largecircular staircase.Felicity descended the staircase (fully clothed) and Blackman’s imagination took over, with the artist reconstructing Duchamp’s ‘deconstruction’ by replacing the mechanical nude with his infamousuniformed schoolgirl (ie. Felicity).Accelerating down thestairs in a quasi-military formation, Felicity’s ‘ballet mécanique’ pays homage to the infamous high priest of 20th century art, while at the same time encapsulating the spirit of ‘Femininity’.

Notably, Schoolgirls descending a staircase, 1977 was exhibited at the Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney and Georges Gallery, Melbourne, and was featured in the widely acclaimed exhibition curated by Felicity at the National Gallery of Victoria, Charles Blackman, Schoolgirls and Angels (1993).