The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) has opened 'Janet Dawson: Far Away, So Close,' the first-ever retrospective for Australian artist Janet Dawson, now aged 90. The exhibition spans over six decades of her career, from her teenage years at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School—where she was the only child student accepted by realist painter H. Septimus Power—through her abstract period in Europe, her defiant practice in conservative 1960s Melbourne, and her later retreat to rural NSW. The show includes major works, photos, and ephemera, arranged chronologically across four rooms, highlighting Dawson's evolution from tonal realism to abstraction and her 1973 Archibald Prize win for a portrait of her husband, theatre director Michael Boddy.
This retrospective matters because it corrects a long-overdue oversight in Australian art history, finally giving a visionary female artist the recognition she deserves at an advanced age. Dawson's career exemplifies fearless exploration and formal innovation, challenging the male-dominated figurative art culture of mid-20th-century Australia. The exhibition underscores the importance of revisiting and celebrating overlooked artists, particularly women, whose work has shaped the national art landscape. Curator Denise Mimmocchi notes the 'incredible underlying energy' in Dawson's paintings, affirming her lasting influence on Australian art.