Australian artist Margaret Preston (1875-1963) is best known for the striking paintings and woodcut prints that she produced from the 1920s until the 1950s. Bridge from North Shore c.1932 (illustrated) is a bold and decorative work and a fine example of the artist’s style during this period. Like the floral still-lifes the artist produced at…
Continue reading » “Margaret Preston’s bold and decorative work”
Church interior c.1941-42 (illustrated) is one of Grace Cossington Smith’s most significant achievements, incorporating her major stylistic approaches and interests. It is also meaningful in terms of the artist’s personal history, as it depicts the Smith family’s place of worship, the new St James’ Anglican Church in Turramurra, Sydney, built in 1941. The painting encapsulates…
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The dramatic group of 76 Banumbirr (Morning star poles) from Galiwin’ku, Arnhem Land resemble those used annually in north-eastern Arnhem Land ceremonies that celebrate the morning star (the planet Venus). RELATED: Read more about Australian Indigenous Art SIGN UP NOW: Subscribe to QAGOMA Blog for the latest announcements, acquisition highlights, behind-the-scenes features, and artist stories.…
Margaret Preston (1875-1963) returned to Australia from Europe in 1919 determined to develop a modern and distinctly national art. Indigenous art was integral to her campaign and, after 1932, when she moved to Berowra in the Hawkesbury Basin near Sydney and encountered local rock art, she embraced its restricted palette and geometric forms. Her appreciation…
Continue reading » “Margaret Preston: Aboriginal still life”
Adelaide-born abstract painter Sydney Ball (1933–2017) passed away in March, Ball moved to New York in 1962 where, through his studies, he was exposed to the rise of Abstract Expressionism, rubbing shoulders with Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell and Willem de Kooning. Returning to Australia three years later, he helped to bring…
NSW and West Australian banksia 1929 is one of a number of paintings by Australian artist Margaret Preston (1875-1963) in which she used the floral still life to bring attention to the natural world and landscape as a way of expressing place and the notion of ‘home’. The distinctive organic forms of the banksia and…
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