DANCIGER, ALICE (1914-1991)

“Ballerina Kirsova” (1947)
Oil on board
35.5 x 54cm
Signed lower right
*special mention in ‘The Sun’, Oct 1947
*exhibited Red Cross Flower Show, 1947
*Dame Helen Kirsova Collection, thence by decent
*Macquarie Galleries
*private collection, Sydney
 
Danciger trained at the Slade School in London, then the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. She lived in Montparnasse in the house of iconic American artist, Alexander Calder, where she befriended Picasso and Miro, and liased with the likes of Dali and Giacometti in the thriving Paris cafe scene. She held her first exhibitions at the Salon De Tuileries in 1936. Forced to leave Europe at the outbreak of World War II, Danciger moved to Sydney, quickly establishing herself as a premiere female Modernist, exhibiting regularly at the Society of Artists, Royal Art Society and Contemporary Artists Society. She befriended and exhibited with the leading Australian artists including Sir William Dobell, Russell Drysdale, and Margaret Preston. Her paintings were fast sellers; snapped up by important institutions such as the Art Gallery of NSW. During this period, she began designing costumes and sets for Australian Ballet and Theatre to great acclaim. Here she met the famous Danish ballerina, choreographer and director, Dame Hélène Kirsova, one of the world's most respected performing artists, who had just established the first Australian Ballet Company, Kirsova Ballet. In 1945, Danciger completed her first portrait of Kirsova, which she purchased along with two other works. In 1946, she completed this portrait, her second as referenced in the Daily Telegraph, and was exhibited (and photographed in 'The Sun' in Oct 1947) at the Red Cross Flower Show, a charity Danciger had been affiliated with for a few years.