Cossington Smith's experiments in Modernism were conducted over a lifetime spent painting in the same house in the Sydney suburb of Turramurra.

In Trees the familiarity of the subject matter, the artist's own garden, liberates Cossington Smith to create this symphony of colour and movement. A kaleidoscope range of shapes and colours generates a sense of dynamism through the painting. Fragments of unprimed canvas, boldly drawn outlines and the arrangement of expressive brushstrokes into a quilt-like patter all characterise this work as distinctly modern...