This book answers the question posed by a number of male art historians and critics: 'Why were there so many influential women artists in the inter-war period?' The book establishes a female context for women's art in Australia and demonstrates how women artists belonged to a female network which fostered Modernism.

Contents: Australian women artists and modernism -- The institutional and social context for art in Australia -- Women's Emancipation, the professions and the media -- The European experience -- Women and the arts and crafts movement -- Modernist art theory and feminism -- Art and design: the career of Margaret Preston -- Decoration and the art of the print.

Includes index. Bibliography: p. 206-227.