'Painting is a silent art, yet so few artists have mastered silence—in Australia, Jeffrey Smart; in America, Edward Hopper; and in Denmark, Vilhelm Hammershøi. If I do not dwell on Smart it is because I sense his debt to Hopper; Smart was born and raised in Adelaide, and though I have wanted him to win my love he has only won my admiration. Hopper, though, crept into my consciousness more than half a lifetime ago, and while I have not spent every moment of those years thinking about his paintings, it is impossible to imagine my life without them.' (Introduction)