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• Auction House:
  Davidson Auctions
• Sale Name:
  Australian & International Art
• Sale Date:
  20 Aug 2023 ~ 1pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  3
• Lot Description:
  Margaret Olley
  (1923-2011)
  "Tamarillos and Jugs", c.1980
  Oil on Board
  52 x 82cm
  Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, label verso.
• Provenance:
  The Private Collection of Barry Pearce, former Head Curator of Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
• Notes:
  Olley travelled through Spain in 1974, and her eyes became alerted to the darker palette of painters from that school, in particular Velasquez and Ribera. Chardin too, one of her favourites, occasionally painted tonally restrained still lifes, influencing some of her beautifully simple night settings such as this. But there is evidence here too of a personal melancholy. 1980 was the year when her beloved family home in Brisbane, Farndon, burned down and she lost early work and memorabilia. And so, profoundly saddened by the tragedy, Olley banished flowers in a poetic meditation on impermanence, the intense red of tamarillos in this case assuming a symbolic resistance against the encroaching dark, imbued through her absolute determination to stay alive and working.
• Estimate:
  A$28,000 - 35,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.