Dorrit Black was an Australian painter and printmaker regarded as one of the pioneers of Modernism in Australia. Born in Adelaide, she studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts before further training in Sydney, London, and Paris. During the late 1920s she attended the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London, where she studied linocut printmaking under Claude Flight, and later worked with influential European modernists including André Lhote and Albert Gleizes.
Returning to Australia in 1929, Black became a passionate advocate for Cubism and modern art. In 1931 she established the Modern Art Centre in Sydney, Australia’s first gallery devoted exclusively to modernism. Her vibrant paintings and linocuts captured the energy and geometry of modern life, most famously in The Bridge (1930), an iconic Cubist interpretation of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Though often underappreciated during her lifetime, Black is now recognised as a major force in shaping Australian modern art.
