James Gleeson

This is The Gleeson Tapes and in this series we'll be delving deep into the archives to hear from some of Australia's most enduring and influential artists.

In the late 1970s, before the National Gallery of Australia opened its doors, the surrealist artist and writer James Gleeson set out across Australia with a tape recorder and a mission to build an oral history archive that captured the stories behind key works of art in the National Collection, told by the artists themselves.

Gleeson completed close to 100 interviews, letting the tape roll and the stories unfold from one artist to another.

In this episode, Gleeson visits Grace Crowley, one of the leading figures in modern art in Australia.