(Balcony with flower pots)

Muriel Medworth was a watercolourist, ceramicist, textile designer, interior designer and teacher. Active in Sydney between 1939 and 1954, she first trained in London at the Camberwell College of Art. A member of Sydney’s Contemporary Art Society and the Australian Watercolour Institute, she was recognised for her commitment to modern design principles. In Sydney, Medworth worked within an artistic milieu that included other expatriate and visiting artists, teachers and designers escaping war-torn Europe, along with her artist husband Frank Medworth, who had come to Australia to teach at the National Art School.
This light-filled image depicts the view over the suburb of Double Bay to Sydney Harbour from her residence on Edgecliff Road. She interprets the scene with the clarity of a designer, using restrained lines, decorative colour work and notational forms that demonstrate her knowledge of modernist practice. The inclusion of potted plants along the balcony hints at her interest in ceramics, another medium in which she excelled, as well as affection for the aesthetics of rural Spain, where she spent time both before and after her residence in Sydney.