Margaret Preston
(Australia, England, France 29 Apr 1875–28 May 1963)
- Title
- Western Australian gum blossom
- Year
- 1928
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
-
55.3 x 46.0cm stretcher; 69.2 x 59.0 x 6.3cm frame:
0 - Whole; 54.6 x 44.5cm; SIGHT DIMENSION
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r., pencil "1928 Margaret Preston".
- Credit
- Purchased 1978
- Accession number
- 93.1978
- Copyright
- © Margaret Rose Preston Estate
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
'Western Australian gum blossom' is one of a group of paintings by Margaret Preston from the late 1920s, remarkable for their simplicity of design and restrained use of colour. Preston believed that the best subjects for modern art were to be found in everyday life. This, combined with her commitment to a peculiarly 'national art', encouraged her use of Australian native flowers, whose distinctive shapes and colours could be ably expressed in her tightly structured still lifes. The dark outlines and flattened, simplified forms echo the woodcuts she was making at the time.
- Bibliography (23)
-
‘New Australia’ by Wayne Tunnicliffe and Deborah Edwards, pg. 24-27., Look May 2012, May 2012, 25.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Curator), dOCUMENTA (13): the book of books, Ostfildern, 2012, 712.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2006 2006, 2006, 6 (colour illus.).
'Margaret Preston' by Deborah Edwards, pg. 103-107., Art and Australia (Vol. 43, No. 1) Sep 2005-Nov 2005, Sep 2005-Nov 2005, 104 (colour illus.), 105.
'Margaret Preston: Art and life', The Sydney Morning Herald 12 Aug 2005-18 Aug 2005, 12 Aug 2005-18 Aug 2005, 27 (illus.).
'Cornucopia: Margaret Preston's floral art lives! and other events', pg. 38-39., Look Jul 2005, Jul 2005, 39 (colour illus.).
Deborah Edwards (Australia) (Author), Margaret Preston, Sydney, 2005, 127, 128, front dust jacket (colour illus., detail), 129 (colour illus.).
Margaret Preston: Catalogue raisonné of paintings, monotypes and ceramics 2005, 2005, (colour illus.). Artworks: paintings 1928.
Katrina Cashman (Australia) (Author), Margaret Preston in Mosman, Mosman, 2002. not paginated
'Light fantastic' by Bruce James, pg. 11., The Sydney Morning Herald 02 Sep 2000, 02 Sep 2000, 11 (colour illus.). NOTE: page 11 of Spectrum lift-out.
Margaret Olley (Australia, b.1923, d.2011) (Author), Barry Humphries (Australia, b.1934) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Director), Christine France (Australia) (Co-ordinator), Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from public and private collections, Sydney, 2000. Catalogue entry appears in inserted list to printed catalogue
Chris Deutscher (Australia) (Author), Australian modern masters and 19th & 20th century Australian and International Fine Art: Fine Art auction 3 & 4 May 2000, Melbourne, 2000, 98. reference to work in association with lot 61 'Australian gum blossom' painted in 1929; colour illus. of lot 61 on pg. 99
Lou Klepac (Australia; Croatia, b.1936) (Author), Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Bruce James (Australia) (Author), John McDonald (Australia, b.1961) (Author), Peter Pinson (Australia, b.1943) (Author), Gavin Fry (Author), Sasha Grishin AM (Australia) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Author), Australian painters of the twentieth century, Roseville, 2000, 23, 24 (colour illus.).
'Icons on show' by Rob Ditessa', pg. 54-59., Artist's palette 2000, 2000, 58 (colour illus.).
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Domain, 2000, 119 (colour illus.), 301.
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 139 (colour illus.).
Mary Eagle (Australia, b.1944) (Author), Australian Modern Painting Between the Wars 1914-1939, Sydney, 1989, 84.
Elizabeth Butel (Author), Nicholas Draffin (Australia, b.1943, d.1995) (Researcher), Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Ringwood, 1985, 39 (colour illus.), 85, 86. cat.no. O.8
Elizabeth Butel (Author), Nicholas Draffin (Australia, b.1943, d.1995) (Researcher), Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Ringwood, 1985, 34, 39 (colour illus.), 85. cat.no. O.8
Martin Terry (Australia) (Author), Masterpieces of Australian Painting, Sydney, 1984, 80, 81 (colour illus.).
Barry Pearce (Australia) (Author), Fifteen decades of Australian paintings, Sydney, 1981, colour illus.. not paginated; cat.no. 10
Ian North (New Zealand; Australia, b.1945) (Author), The art of Margaret Preston, South Australia, 1980, 38 (illus.), 48 (illus.). cat.no. O.21
Society of Artists (Australia, estab. 1895, closed 1965) (Author), Society of Artists Annual Exhibition (1928), Sydney, 1928, (illus.). cat.no. 142; note: 'Not for Sale'; not paginated
- Exhibition history (8)
-
Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from Australian collections (2000), S.H. Ervin Gallery, 15 Jan 2000–27 Feb 2000.
Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000.
Margaret Preston in Mosman, Mosman Art Gallery, 07 Sep 2002–13 Oct 2002.
Margaret Preston retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 29 Jul 2005–23 Oct 2005.
Margaret Preston retrospective, Queensland Art Gallery, 18 Feb 2006–07 May 2006.
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011.
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012.
dOCUMENTA (13), Documenta, 09 Jun 2012–16 Sep 2012.
