Selected Writings - Margaret Preston. Margaret Preston

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      SELECTED WRITINGS

      MARGARET PRESTON

      COMPILED BY ELIZABETH BUTEL

      ETT IMPRINT, SYDNEY

      This edition Published by ET T Imprint, Exile Bay 2015

      First published by Richmond Ventures & ET T Imprint in April 2003 as Ar t and Australia: Selected Writings 1920 - 1950. Selection of Writings, Illustrations & Introduction © Elizabeth Butel 1985, 1995, 2003, 2015.

      The publisher is grateful to the Trustee of the Estate of Margaret Preston and the Permanent Trustee Company Limited for granting permission to reproduce the writings and images of Margaret Preston in this book.

      The editor would also like to thank Katrina Cashman and Rhonda Davis for their help in locating materials.

      This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no par t of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or communicated in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or other wise, whether in existence at the date of publication or yet to be invented without prior written permission. All inquiries should go to the Publisher:

      ET T Imprint, PO Box R1906, Royal Exchange NSW 1225

      ISBN 978-1-925416-20-6 (paperback)

      ISBN 978-1-925416-23-7 (ebook)

      Design by Hanna Gotlieb

      Cover photograph of Margaret Preston by Harold Cazneaux, 1936

      CONTENTS

      Introduction by Elizabeth Butel

       A CONVERT TO MODERN ART

      From Eggs to Electrolux

      Why I became a Convert to Modern Art

      Australian Artists Versus Art

      Meccano as an Ideal

      An Exhibition 1933

      The Moderns to this year 1938

      On the Birthday of Jindyworobak

      The Orientation of Art in the Post-War Pacific

      The Gentle Art of Arranging Flowers

      The Best Conditions for Furnishing the Bedroom

       THE INDIGENOUS ART OF AUSTRALIA

      Art for Crafts

      The Indigenous Art of Australia

      What is to be our National Art?

      The Application of Aboriginal Designs

      Away with Poker-Worked Kookaburras and Gumleaves

      ‘Forms that will suggest Australia’

      Paintings in Arnhem Land

      New Development in Australian Art

      Aboriginal Art of Australia

      Aboriginal Art

      An Art in the Beginning

      My Monotypes

      Artists’ Groundwork

      There and Back in Three Months

      Australia Ahoy!

      Colour

      Woodblocking as a Craft

      Pottery as a Profession

      Some Silk Screen Methods

       ARTISTS’ GROUNDWORK

      Crafts That Aid

      THE WOODCUTS

      INDEX

      INTRODUCTION

       ‘Wherever and whenever in the future Australian painting is discussed and evaluated, Margaret Preston will surely be one of those to be first mentioned.’ ¹ - HAL MISSINGHAM, AUGUST 1963

      Margaret Preston died in May 1963, aged 88, leaving a large body of artwork, comprising paintings, prints and ceramics. Unlike many artists, she also left a substantial body of writing, covering the mature years of her art and life. The vigour of her opinions, well known to her contemporaries, has continued to create comment in the half century since they were written, as students and scholars of new generations discover the unique place of Margaret Preston in the history of Australian art. Excerpts from her essays have found their way into many and varied studies but it is the purpose of this collection to present a selection of her writings in their entirety. In this way, the reader can experience her direct voice, with all its vision, paradox and contradiction.

      As Hal Missingham predicted, Margaret Preston is an artist for all seasons, with contemporary curators and art historians still in the process of re-evaluating her art and ideas. Central among the latter was her role in championing Aboriginal art and her foresight in promoting Australia’s cultural links with Asia. Assessment of her relationship to Aboriginal art has gone full circle in the last twenty years. Criticised as a form of cultural imperialism in the 1980s, the emergence of Aboriginal art from the margins has been accompanied by a shift in scholarly interpretation of Preston’s views. One notable example of this is Andrew Sayers’ recent comparison of her 1946 monotype, ‘Bush Track NSW’, to the spiritual force of a yam Dreaming painting by acclaimed Aboriginal artist, Emily Kngwarreye.’² As with any interpretation, both these responses will continue to be adjusted in line with new approaches to both Preston and Aboriginal art.

      This collection of Preston’s writings spans three decades, the earliest contribution in 1923, the latest in 1949. Since her interests ebbed and flowed during that time, the essays are not presented chronologically but grouped according to theme. The first section, A Convert to Modem Art, presents her biographical writings and theories about Aboriginal art and the role it might play in the creation of a national art. The last section, Artists’ Groundwork, is a miscellany, comprised of selected travel writings and essays on craft and colour theories. It ends with a biographical piece, written at the beginning of the Second World War, where Preston recalls her experiences with shell-shocked soldiers during World War 1.

      Preston’s writings of the 1920s are the outcome of her first period of maturity; a synthesis of principles and ideas acquired both here and overseas. Her writings of the 1930s could be loosely characterised as protest writings, aligned with the general tenor of small magazines of that era and the debates about nationalism that preceded World War 2. Her writings of the 1940s are more ruminative, with a new depth of appreciation added to her support for Aboriginal art.

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