Art in Australia. A Quarterly Magazine. Third Series, Number Nineteen.

Edited by Sydney Ure Smith & Leon Gellert. Sydney : Art in Australia, 1927. Octavo, pictorial card wrappers (loss to head of spine, lower flap detached), 70pp, illustrated with tipped-in colour plates, plus b/w plates, a good copy. Includes essay on The Archibald Prize by H.H. Fotheringham; Australian bookplates, reviews of Art in Victoria and new additions to the Sydney Art Gallery;. Illustrations by Lambert, Penleigh Boyd, Longstaff, Leist, Hoff, et al. The blue variant binding (there was also a yellow variant).

Features an article ‘The revival of sculpture’ with illustrations of works by Rayner Hoff, Bertram Mackennal, George W. Lambert, Paul Montford, C. Douglas Richardson, W. Leslie Bowles et al.

Art in Australia was conceived by Sydney Ure Smith as a flagship for Australian painting and graphic art, and has become the most important resource on Australian art in the first half of the twentieth century. Robert Holden writes ‘The magazine became a showcase of Australian printing ability and set new standards of advertising excellence …’ Artistic layout, quality graphic work in colour, an harmonious choice of typography and carefully worded text were all combined …’ (Cover Up, Sydney: 1995, p. 74).

For over a quarter of a century, and through its different formats, Art in Australia reviewed and discussed all aspects of Australian art exhibited in both commercial public galleries. Its longevity as a journal was due to its modern approach to design, with many covers being icons of art deco style in themselves.