Book description
With new chapters taking in the last few years of Margaret Olley's
life, her state funeral and the enormous legacy she has left behind.'A
great painter, a great woman, a great story' Barry Humphries Margaret
Olley is arguably Australia's most loved artist. She was also one of the
country's most generous benefactors to public art galleries. This
intimate biography begins in the 1920s in the green, tropical wet of
Tully, North Queensland, where Margaret's early childhood was spent on a
cane farm and dairy. The story unfolds to tell of her life-long love
affair with painting. At boarding school at Somerville House, Brisbane,
Margaret found a mentor in art teacher Caroline Barker, and she went on
to blossom as an art student at East Sydney Technical College. The book
includes intriguing revelations about her friendships with well-known
figures such as Donald Friend, William Dobel and Russell Drysdale, and
the success of her first one-person show in Sydney at the age of
twenty-five. Bohemian adventures in Europe with fellow Australian
artists, including David Strachan, were to follow. She travelled -
sketchbook in hand - around England, France, Italy and Spain; met Alice
B. Toklas in Paris; and lived on a vineyard at Cassis in the South of
France. Her story continued back in Australia where in the late 1950s in
Brisbane Margaret struggled with alcoholism and was eventually forced to
face up to drying out or drying up creatively. Once she'd given up her
comforting nips, her return to life and painting was joyous. This is a
rich and comprehensive look at eighty-odd years of Margaret Olley, her
lovers and friends, and, of course, her painting. Meg Stewart,
filmmaker, journalist, and author, is the daughter of artist Margaret
Coen and poet Douglas Stewart. Her writing includes a biography of
Margaret Coen, Autobiography of My Mother, and the art book Margaret
Coen: A Passion For Painting. She has written two novels, Modern Men
Don't Shift Fridges, and The Dream Life of Harry Moon. Her biography of
Margaret Olley, Far From A Still Life is a highly acclaimed bestseller.
