Artist

Preston studied art in Sydney, at the Melbourne National Gallery's school of design and school of painting and at the Adelaide School of Art and Design. She established her own studio in Adelaide in 1899 and there taught students. Notable students included Stella Bowen and Gladys Reynell. Preston also taught at the Collegiate School of St Peter and Presbyterian Ladies' College. Working in the mediums of painting, printmaking and wood engraving, Preston studied and worked in Europe between 1904 and 1907 and again between 1912 and 1919. In London in 1914, Preston exhibited woodcuts for the first time. She studied pottery at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and from 1918 taught soldiers who were rehabilitating in Devon from wounds received during service in World War I. Throughout this period Preston had works exhibited at the New Salon, Paris, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and with the New English Art Club. Preston returned to Australia in 1919 and moved to Sydney in 1920.

During the 1920s her reputation grew and Preston became known as one of Australia's leading modernist artists. Her work was included in the Australian Art Exhibition in London in 1923. In 1929 Preston was the first woman and first modernist to be commissioned to produce a self-portrait for the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. During the 1930s Preston lived at Berowra, on the Hawkesbury River about 40 kilometres north of Sydney, and this period of rural living influenced her work greatly. She studied the connection indigenous Australians feel to the land and its representation in their art, travelling widely to see Aboriginal rock paintings. During the next decade this led her to concentrate on painting landscapes. Preston advocated the development of a national Australian style which would incorporate Aboriginal designs. In 1941 three of Preston's works appeared in the exhibition Art of Australia: 1788 to 1941 shown in the United States and Canada. Preston held her last major exhibition in 1953.

1894: Nominated for Fellowship of the South Australian Society of Arts

1899: Established own studio in Adelaide

1923: Preston's work included in the Australian Art Exhibition in London

1927: Published autobiographical essay 'From eggs to Electrolux' published in Art in Australia

1929: Became first woman and first modernist to be commissioned to produce a self-portrait for the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

1929, 1936 and 1953: Held solo exhibitions

1937: Awarded silver medal at the Paris International Exhibition

1941: Three of Preston's works appeared in the exhibition Art of Australia: 1788 to 1941 shown in the US and Canada

Art historians have discovered that Margaret Preston was, at times, liberal with the facts of her life - on her marriage certificate she reduced her age by eight years so as to be younger than her husband.

Butel, Elizabeth. Margaret Preston, Potts Point, N.S.W. : Editions Tom Thompson, 1995

Edwards, Deborah. Margaret Preston, Sydney : Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2005

Healey, John, ed. S.A.'s greats : the men and women of the North Terrace plaques, Adelaide : Historical Society of South Australia, 2001

Hylton, Jane. South Australian women artists : paintings from the 1890s to the 1940s, Adelaide : Art Gallery Board of South Australia, 1994

Preston, Margaret. The art of Margaret Preston / written by Ian North, Humphrey McQueen, Isobel Seivl, Adelaide : Art Gallery Board of South Australia, 1982

Art Gallery of New South Wales - Margaret Preston: Art and Life

Australian Dictionary of Biography Online: Search for Margaret Preston

National Gallery of Australia - Margaret Preston: Australian Printmaker