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Collection

An image of Australian legend, number 4: Kangaroo dance and pointing the bone by Margaret Preston

Margaret Preston

(Australia, England, France 29 Apr 1875–28 May 1963)

Title
Australian legend, number 4: Kangaroo dance and pointing the bone
Other titles:
Pointing the bone No. 1
Year
(circa 1957)
Media category
Print
Materials used
colour woodcut on buff Japanese paper
Edition
Unknown edition
Dimensions

29.9 x 29.6cm blockmark; 36.0 x 29.6cm sheet

Signature & date
Signed in block to print l.r., incised "MP..". Signed l.l. beneath blockmark, pencil "Margaret Preston". Not dated.
Credit
Purchased 1959
Accession number
DA7.1959
Copyright
© Margaret Rose Preston Estate
Location
Not on display
Further information

"In wishing to rid myself of the mannerisms of a country other than my own I have gone to the art of a people who had never seen or known anything different from themselves ... These are the Australian aboriginals [sic] and it is only from the art of such people in any land that a national art can spring."
- Margaret Preston 1925

Margaret Preston's appreciation and understanding of Aboriginal art and culture grew in sophistication from the time she made her first pronouncements on the subject in the 1920s. During her life she made several visits to Central and Northern Australia, and visited rock art sites in and around Sydney, where she lived. The Australian legend series was made towards the end of her career and integrates colours and compositions derived from Aboriginal paintings, as well as motifs from rock art. For example, the large human footprints in each of these prints were taken from rock carvings in the Sydney area which Preston had seen on excursions with the Anthropological Society of New South Wales.

Australian Art Department, AGNSW, 2000

Bibliography (9)

Elizabeth Butel, Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Ringwood, 1985, 84 (colour illus.), 93. cat.no. P.75; titled 'Pointing the bone'

Roger Butler, The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue raisonné, Canberra, 1987, 296 (colour illus.). cat.no. 404

Roger Butler, The prints of Margaret Preston: a catalogue raisonné, Canberra, 2005, 328 (colour illus.), 329. cat.no. 404

Hendrik Kolenberg and Anne Ryan, Australian prints from the Gallery's collection 1998, Sydney, 1998, 62 (colour illus.). cat.no. 52

Daena Murray, The sound of the sky, Darwin, 2006, 89 (colour illus.). figure no. 93

Daena Murray, The sound of the sky: the Northern Territory in Australian art 2006, Darwin, 2006, 14. cat.no. 79

Ian North, The art of Margaret Preston, South Australia, 1980, 58 (illus.). cat.no. P.48; titled 'Pointing the bone'

Anne Ryan (Curator), Sydney prints: 45 years of the Sydney Printmakers 2006, Sydney, 2006, (colour illus.). List of works.

Anna Waldmann, Project 39 - Women's Imprint 1982, Domain, 1982. not paginated; no catalogue numbers

Exhibition history (10)

Society of Artists Autumn Exhibition of Drawings and Prints (1957), David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, Sydney, 20 Feb 1957–01 Mar 1957

Society of Artists Exhibition of drawings and prints (1959), David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, Sydney, 29 Apr 1959–16 May 1959

Australian Print Survey:

The art of Margaret Preston, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 May 1980–22 Jul 1980

Project 39 - Women's Imprint (1982), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Oct 1982–31 Oct 1982

Margaret Preston: the art of constant rearrangement, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Dec 1985–09 Feb 1986

Australian prints from the Gallery's collection (1998-1999), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 06 Nov 1998–07 Feb 1999

Australian icons: twenty artists from the collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 04 Aug 2000–03 Dec 2000

The sound of the sky: the Northern Territory in Australian art, Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, 08 Apr 2006–16 Jul 2006

Sydney Prints: 45 years of the Sydney Printmakers: