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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Fine Australian & International Art
• Sale Date:
  29 Aug 2016 ~ 6.30pm - Part 1 (Lots 1 - 78)
  30 Aug 2016 ~ 2.30pm - Part 2 (Lots 79 - 328)
• Lot #:
  71
• Lot Description:
  Margaret Olley
  (1923-2011)
  (Black Kettle, Kohlrabi, Fennel and Pot) 1975
  oil on board
  59.5 x 106 cm
  signed lower right: Olley
• Provenance:
  Private collection, New South Wales
• Notes:
  Margaret Olley was an artist's artist. Her life was dedicated to painting all that surrounded her with an enthusiasm reflected in a career spanning over ninety solo exhibitions throughout Australia and internationally. Olley's singular interest in painting her immediate world view is evident in the reoccurrence of favourite household objects from her eccentric home turned studio based in Duxford Street, Paddington (c. 1964). Olley occupied the main portion of this building which once upon a time had been a hat factory. Each room was gradually overtaken with her still life subjects, all enveloped in personal anecdotes. 'Her house was the living part of her art... She was exactly where she wanted to be in the midst of her art and her life and it was here that she produced some of her best work.'1 It is within this lustrous terrain of poised subjects that Olley created the present work (Black Kettle, Kohlrabi, Fennel and Pot) 1975. In the present work we see the Black Kettle which appears in many of Olley's oil paintings inhabiting different spaces each time. These still life works by Olley seem to hold conversations, the Kettle interacts with the Kohlrabi. The knife gently resting on a scrunched up blue cloth and the fennel, lazily bundled into a basket look freshly gathered from a market visit or pilfered from the vegie garden. The sombre colours of winter vegetables and earthenware are warmed by the vibrantly painted red wall - a staple colour of the dining room in the old hat factory. Another example of this setting titled Basket of Spinach 1976 (Private collection)2 also makes use of winter vegetables and the same basket with natural light from the left illuminating the subjects. 'Her painterly voice became more thrilling, however, when she got in just close enough for one to imagine the possibility of literally touching the surfaces, and peering in to each gap and shadow; her brush resounded to a mysterious order of things beyond mere tableau.' 3 In (Black Kettle, Kohlrabi, Fennel and Pot)1975 Olley closes the gap between the viewer and the subject, brushing aside the dust of reality and showing the earthy warmth and peacefulness of the moment. Sarah Garrecht 1 Christine France (2013), It's all about the light: works by Margaret Olley from public collections, exhibition catalogue essay, Tweed Regional Gallery. 2 Barry Pearce, Margaret Olley 1923-2011, The Beagle Press, 2012, p. 115 (illustrated) 3 Barry Pearce op. cit. p. 59
• Estimate:
  A$25,000 - 30,000
• 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.