MARGARET OLLEY

Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney (label on the reverse)
Private collection, Sydney

Gold and brown timber frame with beige cloth mount. Overall very good condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Still life painting has a noble tradition that reaches back to Classical times. The artist Zeuxis of Heraclea painted grapes so realistically that the birds were deceived into pecking them. Breathtaking still life motifs were introduced into the panel paintings of the Italian early Renaissance and the so called Flemish Primitives, masters of the fifteenth century. The roll call is long and full of names of the masters - Leonardo, Caravaggio, the Dutch, Chardin and even Goya. Then there are Monet's water lilies and Van Gogh's sunflowers, C¿zanne, Picasso, and the list is far from complete. In Australia today Tim Maguire has caught the public's eye, but Margaret Olley reigns supreme as the 'queen of still life' as one writer chose to dub her.¹ Her reputation is soundly founded on many decades of triumph. Her first work to enter the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1948 was Still Life with Pink Fish. In 1996 that same gallery honoured her with a retrospective exhibition of her work, rich in still life paintings and interiors.

Her choice of subjects is broad, of various flowers, fruits, fish, ceramic objects, musical instruments, pewter, sometimes offset by the colourful geometric patterning of an Oriental rug. Each is distinguished by a feeling of freshness and life, of the life lived and enjoyed by its creator expressed in paint. Sometimes they pulsate with colour, other times they are subtly radiant. The key note in Proteas and Desert Roses is subtlety, the colours of the plants, apples and their containers picked up and blended in the painterly background.

Proteas take their name from the Greek god Proteus who could change his form at will, for proteas indulge in many different forms. Likewise the still life paintings of Margaret Olley, but they share a richness of variety and distinction which marks them out as something special.

1. Mendelssohn, J., 'Queen of still life', Independent Monthly, Sydney, November 1993, p. 99