Margaret Preston<br />Australia 1875 – 1963<br />Aboriginal flowers 1928<br />oil on canvas<br />© Estate of Margaret Preston/Copyright Agency

Margaret Preston

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square

Level 3

4 Sep 26 – 31 Jan 27, ticketed

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Ticket prices
  • NGV Member Adult $33
  • NGV Member Child $14

    (5–15 years)

  • NGV Member Family $77
  • Adult $35
  • Child (5–15 years) $17
  • Concession $32

    Seniors card discount Wednesdays only

  • Family  $87

    (2 adults + 3 children)

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The art of Margaret Preston has shaped the cultural and aesthetic landscape of Australia. Born in Adelaide in 1875, Preston (nee McPherson) studied in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, before travelling extensively across England and Europe. Participating in the growing discourses surrounding modernism, Preston began to merge a variety of influences, such as Post-Impressionism, primitivism in European art, the Arts and Craft movement, and Japanese ukiyo-e.

Following Preston’s return from Europe to Sydney in 1919, she established herself as a central figure in the dissemination of modernist principles and pursued the development of a visual language that was uniquely Australian. To resolve her passion in defining a national art, Preston turned towards the cultural material of First Peoples, whose designs she perceived as untouched by European taste. Although Preston was progressive in recognising the aesthetic value of the objects and motifs she incorporated, her approach did not consider their significance to the communities from which she appropriated.

Today, Margaret Preston’s work continues to inspire and generate debate, emphasising her important contribution to Australian art of the twentieth century. This retrospective exhibition contextualises Preston alongside her peers, as well as contemporary artists who have responded to her legacy.

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Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Shoalhaven Gorge, New South Wales</em> (1940-1941) <!-- (recto) --><br /> oil and gouache on canvas<br /> 53.7 x 45.8 cm<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased with funds donated from the Estate of Dr Donald Wright, 2008<br /> 2008.19<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--85791--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Banksia and Flannel Flowers</em> 1938 <!-- (recto) --><br /> oil on canvas<br /> 61.0 x 46.1 cm<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased, 1949<br /> 1998-4<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--2829--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Gardenia</em> 1929 <!-- (recto) --><br /> oil on canvas<br /> 54.2 x 45.8 cm<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased, 1942<br /> 1146-4<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--2831--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Wheelflower</em> (c. 1929) <!-- (recto) --><br /> hand-coloured woodcut on brown hand-made paper<br /> 44.2 x 44.7 cm irreg. (block) 48.4 x 47.1 cm irreg. (sheet)<br /> proof<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased, 1979<br /> P10-1979<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--25423--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Bird of paradise</em> (1925) <!-- (recto) --><br /> hand-coloured woodcut on brown paper<br /> 39.7 x 42.9 cm (block) 56.8 x 45.6 cm irreg. (sheet)<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased, 1942<br /> 1185-4<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--39860--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Fuchsia</em> 1928 <!-- (recto) --><br /> hand-coloured woodcut<br /> 27.0 x 26.7 cm (image) 38.0 x 33.6 cm (sheet)<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Purchased, 1966<br /> 1690-5<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--29899--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Hibiscus</em> 1925 <!-- (resto) --><br /> hand-coloured woodcut<br /> 24.5 x 24.5 cm (image and block)<br /> Edition of 50, 6th proof<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Gift of Andr&eacute;e Fay Harkness through the Australian Government&rsquo;s Cultural Gifts Program, 2020<br /> 2020.506<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--138023--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Kookaburras</em> (c. 1923) <!-- (image only) --><br /> hand-coloured woodcut<br /> 17.1 x 13.6 cm (block) 24.8 x 20.9 cm (sheet)<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> Gift of the Reverend Ian Brown, 2008<br /> 2008.274<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--86370--> Margaret PRESTON<br/> <em>Flannel flowers</em> 1938 <!-- (recto) --><br /> oil on canvas<br /> 122.0 x 91.6 cm<br /> National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne<br /> The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004<br /> 2004.209<br /> &copy; Margaret Preston/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia <!--75856-->

NGV Searches for Preston Artworks

The NGV is seeking public assistance to find four paintings by one of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Margaret Preston (1875–1963), last seen for sale at auction or in private collections. If located, curators hope to include the paintings in the retrospective exhibition – the first on the artist in more than 20 years.

Following a two-year search across Australian and international galleries, collections and auction houses, the NGV is asking for public assistance to locate the following known works by Preston:

Still life: lobsters 1901 
oil on canvas  
76.2 x 110.2 cm

A truly exceptional painting, Still life: lobsters is one of Margaret Preston’s only surviving early career works. One of her largest paintings, the work was completed in Adelaide when she was 26 years old. Still life: lobsters was last known to be held in an Adelaide private collection. 

Still life with mandarins c. 1908 
oil on canvas 
56 x 46 cm 

Still life with mandarins provides a glimpse into Margaret Preston’s life when she was residing with Bessie Davidson’s family in Adelaide. With Preston’s chosen domestic items beautifully recorded, Still life with mandarins demonstrates the techniques and skills she acquired while studying in Paris at the turn of the century.  The work last appeared at auction in 2006. 

Still life 1915 
oil on cardboard 
45.5 x 55.5 cm 

This sophisticated composition was completed in Bonmahon, Ireland in 1915 during Preston’s second trip abroad and was exhibited at the New English Art Club the same year. Still life is a key work from her time overseas, demonstrating her growing interest in Post-Impressionism as well as the influence of Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut artists on her art practice. Available records indicated that this work last sold in 1995. 

Gloxinia 1928 
oil on canvas 
45.5 x 35.5 cm

Gloxinia sits amongst Margaret Preston’s distinctly modernist period of the late 1920s. This commanding still-life showcases Preston’s use of angularity and light, whilst forecasting her soon embrace of the landscape through dotting the iconic red rooves of Mosman Bay. The location of Gloxinia was unknown during the Art Gallery of New South Wales retrospective in 2005, however, it came up at auction in 2014. 

If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the missing Margaret Preston artworks, please contact us via the form below.

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