Songs of the Australian Landscape: The Art and Spirituality of Rosalie Gascoigne

This article focuses upon the central motifs and symbols of the Australian abstract artist Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999) in an attempt to uncover the spirituality in her work, and to connect this with Australian spirituality and with spirituality in the wider Christian tradition. The author proposes such a connection to be the fruit of bringing to bear the religious imagination upon Gascoigne's work, that is, a capacity to attend to the contemplative, creative and sacramental layers in it. Such a capacity invites a response to the artist's work that is ultimately religious. For Australia to be known as land of the spirit ( Terra spiritus), theologians cannot neglect the work of artists such as Rosalie Gascoigne.