The Australian Women's Register

10 sound cassettes (ca. 750 min.) Cassab talks about her life, her sketching, childhood in Hungary, the devastation of her country and family in World War II, her enduring marriage to Yanchi, living as an artist in post-war Hungary, their emigration to Australia in 1951, expanding from portrait painting to abstracts in 1960’s, the Sydney artistic scene, her first Australian exhibition in 1953, the difficulties in adjusting to Australian life and learning English and Australian humour, impressions of those she has painted, the change in the Sydney art scene at the end of the 1950’s, her impressions of Hungary since the 1960’s, her trip to Japour, her trip to Alice Springs in May 1959, the impact of the Outback on her paintings, her sittings with royalty, her use of daily meditation, her trip to the Thai court. Cassab discusses her belief that self-exploration develops artistic talent, Australian art boom from 1959 to 1974, her views on artistic style, the rise in popularity of Sydney art galleries in the mid-1960’s, which galleries hold her paintings, what constitutes art and imitation of art -our loss of reverence for life in glorifying technology, how art technique is rarely discussed among artists, her impressions of celebrity sitters, her appointment as member of the Council of the Order of Australia in 1975, her love of Rainbow Valley near Alice Springs, appointed as trustee of the Art Gallery of NSW in 1981, how ageing is affecting her painting, and her book launch in 1984.