Title
Grey day in the ranges
1942
Artist
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Details
- Date
- 1942
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on hardboard
- Dimensions
- 51.0 x 50.7 cm board; 66.7 x 66.9 x 6.5 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated l.r. corner, pencil "M Preston / 1942".
- Credit
- Purchased 1942
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 7224
- Copyright
- © Margaret Rose Preston Estate/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Margaret Preston
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Although Margaret Preston is known primarily for her paintings and woodblock prints of flowers and still life, a period spent living amidst bushland at Berowra in the late 1930s led her to concentrate on landscapes during the 1940s. At this time too, her interest and belief in the importance of Aboriginal art deepened, inspiring a reduction of her palette to earth-toned colours, simplification of form with strong black outlining, and use of dots and marks to signify physical details in the landscape.
As a result of her interest in Oriental painting and European modernism, Preston is recognised as perhaps the first artist to advocate the use of Aboriginal designs and motifs in the development of a modern national art - initially for domestic items and furnishings but later extended to colour, technique and subject matter in art.
Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2001
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Exhibition history
Shown in 17 exhibitions
Margaret Preston and William Dobell loan exhibition (1942), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Mar 1942–16 Apr 1942
One hundred years of Australian art, Exhibition Venue Unknown, , 1945–1946
Exhibition of Australian women painters, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 1946–18 Aug 1946
Travelling Art Exhibitions 1952. Australian landscape painting, Taree Council Chambers, Taree, 08 Jul 1952–22 Jul 1952
Travelling Art Exhibitions 1952. Australian landscape painting, Lithgow Public Library, Lithgow, 05 Aug 1952–19 Aug 1952
Travelling Art Exhibitions 1952. Australian landscape painting, Young Public Library, Young, 16 Sep 1952–30 Sep 1952
Travelling Art Exhibitions 1952. Australian landscape painting, Church of England Parish Hall, Grenfell, 13 Oct 1952–26 Oct 1952
The art of Margaret Preston, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 May 1980–22 Jul 1980
Aspects of Australian Figurative Painting 1942-1962: Dreams, Fears and Desires (The 5th Biennale of Sydney), S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 11 Apr 1984–17 Jun 1984
Seeing is believing - the art in photography, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 13 Dec 1985–19 Jan 1986
1988 Australian Biennale: from the Southern Cross: a view of world art c.1940-88, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 18 May 1988–03 Jul 1988
1988 Australian Biennale: from the Southern Cross: a view of world art c.1940-88, National Gallery of Victoria [St Kilda Road], Melbourne, 04 Aug 1988–18 Sep 1988
Motif & Meaning: Aboriginal Influences in Australian Art 1930-1970, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 14 May 1999–25 Jul 1999
Motif & Meaning: Aboriginal Influences in Australian Art 1930-1970, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, 19 Aug 1999–18 Sep 1999
Motif & Meaning: Aboriginal Influences in Australian Art 1930-1970, Gladstone Regional Art Gallery, Gladstone, 29 Sep 1999–30 Oct 1999
Motif & Meaning: Aboriginal Influences in Australian Art 1930-1970, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane, 09 Dec 1999–16 Jan 2000
Motif & Meaning: Aboriginal Influences in Australian Art 1930-1970, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Toowoomba, 10 Feb 2000–26 Mar 2000
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000
Australian Collection Focus: Margaret Preston The brown pot 1940, I lived at Berowra 1941, Grey day in the ranges 1942, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Sep 2001–03 Feb 2002
Margaret Preston retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 29 Jul 2005–23 Oct 2005
Margaret Preston retrospective, Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne, 12 Nov 2005–29 Jan 2006
Margaret Preston retrospective, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 18 Feb 2006–07 May 2006
Margaret Preston retrospective, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 May 2006–13 Aug 2006
Yin-Yang: China in Australia, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 08 Aug 2008–28 Sep 2008
dOCUMENTA (13), Documenta, Kassel, 09 Jun 2012–16 Sep 2012
Sydney Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Jul 2013–07 Oct 2013
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 12 Oct 2016–19 Feb 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 11 Mar 2017–11 Jun 2017
O'Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jul 2017–02 Oct 2017
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 32 publications
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Aboriginal art', Look, 'Preston's Aboriginal inspiration: how Margaret Preston was influenced, pg. 16-17, Melbourne, Sep 2001, 16, 17 (colour illus.).
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2002, 'Year in review', pg. 8-25, Sydney, 2002, 15.
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Claire Baddeley (Curator), Motif & meaning: Aboriginal influences in Australian art, 1930-1970, Ballarat, 1999.
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Ronald M. Berndt and E.S. Phillips (Editors), The Australian Aboriginal heritage: an introduction through the arts, Sydney, 1973, 309 (colour illus.).
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Ruth Burgers., Oz arts magazine [issue 6], 'Light in the forest', Wentworth Falls, 1993, 58.
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Janine Burke, Australian women artists 1840-1940, Collingwood, 1980, 128 (illus.), 175.
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Elizabeth Butel, Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Ringwood, 1985, 86. cat.no. O.16
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Joanna Capon, Yin-yang : China in Australia, 'The influence of China on Australian Art', pg. 47-55, Sydney, 2008, 14, 15 (colour illus.).
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Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Curator), dOCUMENTA (13): das begleitbuch / the guidebook, 'Margaret Preston', pg. 170-171, Ostfildern, 2012, 170, 171 (colour illus.).
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Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Curator), dOCUMENTA (13): the book of books, 'Participants, biographies, and exhibited objects and works', pg. 674-725, Ostfildern, 2012, 712.
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Deborah Edwards, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Moderns', pg. 103-104, Sydney, 2000, 120 (colour illus.), 301.
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Deborah Edwards and Rose Peel, Margaret Preston: Catalogue raisonné of paintings, monotypes and ceramics, Sydney, 2005, (colour illus.). Artworks: paintings 1942.
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Deborah Edwards, Art Monthly Australia, 'Margaret Preston: reviewing the landscape', pg. 19-23, Canberra, Dec 2002-Feb 2003, 21 (colour illus.), 22.
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Deborah Edwards, Australian Collection Focus: Margaret Preston The brown pot 1940, I lived at Berowra 1941, Grey day in the ranges 1942, 'An art for Australia, from Australians', pg. 3-9, Sydney, 2002, 4, 7,8, 6 (colour illus.).
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Deborah Edwards, Margaret Preston, ‘An art for Australia from Australians 1940s-1950s', pg.173-250, Sydney, 2005, 188, 194, 199, 200, 202, 253, 259, 264, 201 (colour illus.), 265 (colour illus.).
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Alan McCulloch, Encyclopedia of Australian art (Vol.2, L-Z), Hawthorn East, 1984, 445, 635 (illus.).
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Humphrey McQueen, The black swan of trespass: the emergence of Modernist painting in Australia to 1944, Sydney, 1979, (colour illus.). plate III
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Denise Mimmocchi and Deborah Edward, Art and Australia (Vol. 43, No. 1), 'Margaret Preston', pg. 100-107, Sydney, Sep 2005-Nov 2005, 107.
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Hal Missingham., Art and Australia [series 5, vol. 1, no. 2], 'Margaret Preston', Sydney, Aug 1963, front cover (colour illus.).
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National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Margaret Preston and William Dobell loan exhibition, Sydney, 1942. cat.no. 45
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Ian North, The art of Margaret Preston, South Australia, 1980, 50 (illus.). cat.no. O.36
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Barry Pearce, Look, 'A quiet love affair: private passion over 33 years gives birth to a book', pg. 26-29, Sydney, Sep 2014, 29 (colour illus.). extract
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Margaret Preston., Exhibition of Australian women painters, 'Introduction', Sydney, 1946. cat.no. 26
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Ursula Prunster, Seeing is believing: the art in photography, Sydney, 1985. cat.no. 38; not paginated
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Joanne Raheb-Mol, Art & Mind, Melbourne, 1998, 135 (colour illus.). plate no. 9.4
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Donald Richardson, Introducing art: a first book on the history and appreciation of the visual arts, Melbourne, 1990, 225 (illus.).
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Virginia Spate, Aspects of Australian figurative painting 1942-1962: dreams, fears and desires, 'Introduction', pg. 7-18, Sydney, 1984, 27, 91, 16 (colour illus.). cat.no. 15
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Graeme Sullivan, Seeing Australia: views of artists and artwriters, Annandale, 1994, 94 (illus.).
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Eleonora Triguboff (Editor), Art & Australia, 'The place where thought and action meet: dOCUMENTA (13)'s Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev in conversation with Wes Hill', pg. 562-567, Sydney, Winter 2012, 564, 565 (colour illus.).
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Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales, One hundred years of Australian art, Sydney, circa 1945. cat.no. 39
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Nick Waterlow (Director), The 1988 Australian Biennale: from the Southern Cross: a view of world art c.1940-88, "Exhibiting artists 57-275; List of works in the exhibition", pg. 276-282, Sydney, 1988, 225 (colour illus.), 281.
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The National Art Gallery of NSW: Australian landscape painting, Sydney, 1951. cat.no. 13
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