Wednesday, December 1, 2010
CONTROVERSY
The creations of Margaret Preston were unlike those of any other artists of her time. Even today, no artist has been able to parallel her style, or, as been sometimes suggested, no artist has been brave enough to imitate the works of the notoriously fiery woman.
Who Was She?
- Born in Port Adelaide in 1875 as Margaret Rose McPherson.
- Margaret spent the young years of her life studying at art schools in Australia, France, Munich, Paris and England.
- She was most well known for her wood and lino-block paintings, but also produced etchings, poetry, basket weaving, fabric paintings, dying and other techniques of print making.
- Margaret was also an influential art teacher, which allowed her, financially, to pursue her own artistic visions.
- During her thirties and forties, Preston returned to England to study with her students. Europe greatly influenced Margaret's views on art and the world, as she experimented with European modernism, the French Post-Impressionists such as Matisse and Cezanne, as well as the Cubist style of Picasso and Japanese art.
- In 1919 she moved to Mosman after marrying the wealthy manager of Dalton Brothers Ltd, William George Preston. Margaret saw this as a new beginning for herself, and a chance to focus on her art.
- Margaret then moved to Australia, and at this time became a large part of our artistic history. During the 1920s and 1930s Preston's artworks really began to 'come of age,' being shown in an exhibition in 1925.
- Aboriginal art influence became evident in Preston's pieces from the 1920s onwards.
- Even during her later years, Preston travelled the world extensively with her husband. After returning to Mosman, although she was in her seventies, Preston continued to work with the same enthusiasm and creativity of her early days.
- In 1963, Preston died at the age of 88. She left behind more than 400 prints and a legacy that forever changed the future of Australian art.
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