Embracing new visual vocabularies to better express their distinct viewpoints, many notable Australian artists, including Roland Wakelin, Grace Cossington Smith and Rah Fizelle, broke with tradition in the 1920s and 1930s and turned to Modernism. These artists immersed themselves in geometric concepts of space and volume, rhythm and repetition, and illusion and flatness. Working with the elements of painting – line, shape, colour and pattern – artists experimented with their own emotional responses, capturing a sense of independence.
