Margaret Olley AC, AO
Etching House has available a collection of Margaret Olley limited edition fine art etchings and works on paper. lay Buys welcome up to 12 months at 20% deposit, no fees.
Born in Lismore 1923, Margaret Olley is renowned as one of Australia's most prized interior and still life painters.
Demonstrating a fierce disregard for trends and fashions, Olley's exquisite arrangements of flowers, fruit and objects seduce the viewer with their technical virtuosity and inherent grace. Her arrangements are always elegant, the objects always beautiful.
Complexities of space and light are rendered with consummate skill. Olley's subjects are almost always from her own home - itself famous as an exquisite work of art. She first came to public attention as the beguiling subject of Dobell's winning Archibald portrait in 1948, and these days is regarded as a national treasure. In 1997 her work was the subject of a major retrospective organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
“Her work is a continuing celebration of the great tradition of painting; of the delight in colour, in form and the textures of feeling and emotion that can be expressed in the manipulation of paint. As a painter she finds extraordinary riches of human sensitivity and aspiration in the most familiar.. of things, from vases of flowers to bowls of fruit. These humble images of the everyday become in her paintings immortal and yet intimate echoes of real substance. Still-lifes and interiors are her particular metier and [she] is an indelible part of that great tradition, from Vermeer to Morandi which finds constant inspiration, beauty and a rich spirit of humanity in the most familiar and unassuming subject matter.”
Edmund Capon AM, Director of AGNSW
From the 1970s, the quantity of Olley’s output of landscapes and portraiture declined, and she narrowed her subject matter to still-life and interiors. With painting as her focus, her work took on the rich sensuality and colour which is clearly evident in this recent painting. In the late 1980s, Olley travelled overseas to Asia and Europe. Her work at this time reflected much of the influence of her travels, as she built on her own experience and painting by viewing the work of artists she most admired. Although subtly echoing elements of the work of Matisse and Bonnard, Olley’s work essentially filled a niche in the realm of Australian painting and led the way for younger Australian painters.
Olley has successfully manipulated her paint to reflect her love of all things of life. She has given permanent vitality and beauty to a subject of which most of us are guilty of overlooking.
Collections include: Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales; National Gallery of Victoria; Art Gallery of South Australia; Art Gallery of Western Australia; Queensland Art Gallery; The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery; Rockhampton Art Gallery; Toowoomba Art Gallery; Bendigo Art Gallery; Lismore Regional Art Gallery; Maitland City Art Gallery; Wollongong City Gallery; Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery and Museum; The Centre Gallery, Gold Coast; Artbank; University of NSW; University of Sydney; Canberra School of Art Gallery;Brisbane College of Advanced Education; The Queensland Teachers Union; University Art Museum, University of Queensland; Canberra College of Advanced Education; Australian National University.Etching House has available a collection of Margaret Olley limited edition fine art etchings and works on paper. Etching House Lay Buys welcome up to 12 months at 20% deposit, no fees.
