In 1941, Gwynne completed a portrait of
Daisy Bates, the Australian journalist and anthropologist. It was included in an exhibition in 1952 along with works by
Nora Heyson,
Jacqueline Hick and
Elaine Haxton. The portrait of Bates now hangs in the
Art Gallery of South Australia. A preliminary watercolour of the subject, completed in 1940, can be found in the collection at
Carrick Hill. In 1941, the
National Gallery of Australia purchased its first painting by Gwynne and a report at the time commented that "she is one of those artists who is also a thinker. She paints flowers at times, and pays them the compliment of visiting them where they grow … instead of chopping their heads off, putting them in a pot, and painting them reflected in a shiny table." In 1944, Gwynne became a member of "Group 9", a group of Adelaide artists brought together by
Dorrit Black to support each other and hold exhibitions. Their first exhibition was in 1944, and a review of it describes Gwynne's work as "vivid, convincing, and colorful, [it] first attracts, then pleases and satisfies." An exhibition by the group in 1951 again praised both Black and Gwynne's work, but was less enthusiastic of the work submitted by
Jeffrey Smart. In 1954, Gwynne's painting
Still life with melons was selected for a special exhibition commemorating the
visit to Australia by Queen Elizabeth II, along with works by
Nora Heyson,
Hans Heyson, Jeffrey Smart and others. Gwynne's work is part of the permanent collections of the following museums: •
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide •
Castlemaine Art Museum,
Castlemaine, Victoria •
Carrick Hill, Adelaide •
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra •
Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, University of Western Australia Her work was also represented in two major exhibitions at the AGSA,
South Australian Women Artists 1890s–1940s (1994) and
Modern Australian Women: paintings and prints 1925–1945 (2000–2001). Gwynne died in Adelaide on 12 June 1958. == References ==