ARTISTS
Margaret Preston: A Collection of Important Prints
From the time of her first exhibition in 1925 Margaret Preston established herself as the most important artist printmaker working in Australia. The exhibition received critical and popular acclaim. It was described in the press as 鈥榓 riot of colour鈥� and sold exceptionally well. The most desirable works were those dealing with Australian flora; Preston hand-coloured them in gouache which enabled her to exploit the effects of vibrant, saturated colours. Her work quickly became iconic, being illustrated in journals like Art in Australia and The Home and being acquired by public galleries. The exhibition also marked the beginning of Preston鈥檚 commitment to the development of a national Australian art.
This important group of eight prints span the most productive years of Preston鈥檚 involvement with woodblock printmaking 鈥� ranging from her 1925 exhibition until 1939.
In Native flowers (1925), an arrangement of flannel flowers, Sturt desert peas and Christmas bells in a blue bowl, the flowers have a jewel-like quality, appearing vibrant against the solid black background. This was one of the best-known prints from the 1925 exhibition following its reproduction on the cover of Art in Australia in December of that year.
Throughout the twenties Preston continued to experiment with still lives of native flowers, the compositions becoming bolder and more commanding. She also produced landscapes of the Sydney foreshore. When Preston settled in Sydney in 1920, she lived in the harbourside suburb of Mosman and went on to produce several prints which show her affection for this picturesque location. Mosman Bridge (1927), one such view, was selected by the artist to accompany her monograph Margaret Preston: Recent paintings 1929. All impressions of this print are slightly different. Preston was not interested in printing in colour, but hand coloured each print, the distribution of colour often varying, imparting each with its own vitality.
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From the time of her first exhibition in 1925 Margaret Preston established herself as the most important artist printmaker working in Australia. The exhibition received critical and popular acclaim. It was described in the press as 鈥榓 riot of colour鈥� and sold exceptionally well. The most desirable works were those dealing with Australian flora; Preston hand-coloured them in gouache which enabled her to exploit the effects of vibrant, saturated colours. Her work quickly became iconic, being illustrated in journals like Art in Australia and The Home and being acquired by public galleries. The exhibition also marked the beginning of Preston鈥檚 commitment to the development of a national Australian art.
This important group of eight prints span the most productive years of Preston鈥檚 involvement with woodblock printmaking 鈥� ranging from her 1925 exhibition until 1939.
In Native flowers (1925), an arrangement of flannel flowers, Sturt desert peas and Christmas bells in a blue bowl, the flowers have a jewel-like quality, appearing vibrant against the solid black background. This was one of the best-known prints from the 1925 exhibition following its reproduction on the cover of Art in Australia in December of that year.
Throughout the twenties Preston continued to experiment with still lives of native flowers, the compositions becoming bolder and more commanding. She also produced landscapes of the Sydney foreshore. When Preston settled in Sydney in 1920, she lived in the harbourside suburb of Mosman and went on to produce several prints which show her affection for this picturesque location. Mosman Bridge (1927), one such view, was selected by the artist to accompany her monograph Margaret Preston: Recent paintings 1929. All impressions of this print are slightly different. Preston was not interested in printing in colour, but hand coloured each print, the distribution of colour often varying, imparting each with its own vitality.
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