Sunset Cantata No. 19

Audette has been referred to as Australia's major international abstract artist. In 1952 she left Australia for America. During the three years that she spent in New York, she came into contact with major exponents of the Abstract Expressionist movement including Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and the influential critic Clement Greenberg. Audette worked in Europe for many years, maintaining studios in Florence and Milan, prior to her return to Sydney in 1966. In 1969 she moved to Melbourne where she still resides, works and teaches.

A classically trained pianist, Audette often listens to music while painting. Since the 1950s, a number of her works have borne the word 'Cantata' in the title - a reference to the music of Bach. Musical references provide a particularly apt analogy for Audette's paintings, as both her style and music share a visual system of the use of abstract notation to convey harmony.