Lisette Kohlhagen was born on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. She studied at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts under James Ashton and won an award from the Royal Drawing Society in 1926. She worked across mediums including printmaking, painting, illustration and ceramics and was a member of the art collective "Group 9" alongside Dorrit Black, a leading figure of Modernism in Australia.
Kohlhagen's relief prints often depicted building views, floral still lives, and daily scenes of her life in Australia. The black swans seen here are native to her home in South Australia.
