Margaret Olley OAM - Lillies and Grapes

Margaret Olley OAM, (1923-2011), Lillies and Grapes 1958, oil on board, 100.5 x 75 cm, Lismore Regional Gallery Permanent Collection, Acquired through the Lismore Art Prize, Winner (oil painting), 1958. Photo: Parsa Jamalpour.

About the artwork
Lilies and Grapes is an early painting by Margaret Olley, depicting one of her favourite subjects, still-life. As Olley has commented: ‘People call it a still life. It has another dimension. It is relationships and the juxtaposition of objects. I use flowers, it's creative - and space is absolutely everything’.

1955 to 1958 was one of the least prolific times of Margaret Olley’s painting career. Winning the Lismore Art Prize no doubt provided her with the necessary encouragement to pursue her art more vigorously. 

About the artist
Margaret Olley was born in Lismore on 24 June 1923 and passed away in her sleep at her home in Sydney on 26 July 2011. She is recognised as one of Australia's foremost still-life painters. Olley's paintings depict intimate interiors and colourful environments. Her still lifes and interiors reflect the objects within her surroundings and the characteristics of her immediate world. 

The objects that Margaret Olley brought into her home were chosen for their potential to translate into paintings. Olley paints the relationships between objects to produce compositions that convey what she called a 'dialogue between the purity of shapes and their spatial relationships'.

Conserved by ICS / International Conservation Services 
Conservation notes: Unstable media was faced; extensive stabilisation of media; dry surface cleaned and aqueous cleaned; media losses were infilled and inpainted; final varnish; reframed in new frame.

ArtVenture is presented by Lismore City Council’s Destination and Economy Team in collaboration with Lismore Regional Gallery.