We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands.

Mary Brady Peter Summerton

Image courtesy the artist's estate

The subject of this portrait by Mary Brady is Peter Summerton, a family friend who was then the director of the Independent Theatre in North Sydney.

Summerton noted that while Brady composed by arranging the elements of a painting on her canvas, his art as director was to ‘paint’ in the way he positioned and balanced the actors and their backgrounds on the stage.