OLLEY, MARGARET (1923-2011)

“Streetscape, Brisbane” (1966)
mixed media
cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Olley is one of Australia's greatest 20th century painters. She studied painting at Brisbane Central Technical College & then moved to Sydney in 1943 to enrol in an Art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College where she graduated with A-class honours in 1945. She further studied in Europe, before winning the inaugural Mosman Art Prize in 1947 and held her very first solo exhibition in Sydney in 1948. Her work was focussed predominantly on still life painting, with her unique, modernist compositions amongst the most valuable Australian works from the 1950s to 2000s. She was the subject of two Archibald Prize-winning portraits (William Dobell & Ben Quilty), & her works are represented in all major Australian Galleries. This is one of the most important paintings Olley ever did, from her first solo show at Macquarie Galleries in 1948. She mentions it several times in her biography & it was reproduced in Barry Pearce's 'Margaret Olley' retrospective.