Cressida Campbell

Cressida Rosemary Campbell (born 8 July 1960) is an Australian artist.

Early life and education Cressida Rosemary Campbell was born on 8 July 1960 in Sydney to Ruth and Ross Campbell.

She studied at East Sydney Technical College in 1978 and 1979. Her older sister is actress Nell Campbell.

Career Campbell held her first solo show in Sydney in 1979. Campbell spent several weeks at the Yoshida Hanga Academy in Tokyo in 1985. From this she learned how to lead the eye around the picture plane using composition. Through the 1990s and the 2000s, she showed work with Rex Irwin Art Dealer. Since 1994 she has shown with Phillip Bacon Galleries in Brisbane who is considered to be her prime dealer. Later Campbell worked with the Sophie Gannon gallery in Melbourne.

Her technique has centered on carving and painting her woodblocks in preparation for hand-printing them. An image is drawn on wood, carved, then painted with up to three coats of paint. It is then wetted and a single print is made. The block is repainted briefly to replace any significant loss of detail, the print is then hand painted for up to a period of months to create a fully resolved artwork. It echoes the flattened picture plane of Japanese ukiyo-e-prints, Campbell exhibits prints and hand painted woodblocks as artworks in their own right.

One of Campbell's woodblocks was sold at the highest price for a living Australian women artist in 2022.

Campbell's technique is based on 'white line' printmaking, a technique pioneered by the Provincetown Printers of Massachusetts in 1913. She is described as following in the footsteps of Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor. She created a suite of painted woodblocks to celebrate the life and home of Campbell's friend and fellow artist, Margaret Olley.

Two photos of Campbell are featured in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Selected exhibitions Solo: Cressida Campbell, survey exhibition, 24 Sep 2022 – 19 Feb 2023, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Timeless: The art of Cressida Campbell, 10 January – 22 February 2009, National Trust S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney Cressida Campbell (Masks, Paintings and Things), 29 September – 14 October 1979, Hogarth Galleries, Paddington, NSW Group: Cutting Through Time—Cressida Campbell, Margaret Preston, and the Japanese Print, 18 May - 28 July 2024, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, Victoria Preview for Dalia Stanley Auctioneers, 4 August 1995 - 5 August 1995, Mary Place Gallery, Paddington, NSW

Collections Campbell's work is held in the following collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales National Gallery of Australia (NGA)

NGA director Nick Mitzevich said in 2022 that Campbell was among the most privately collected artists of Australia.