Margaret Preston female artist

Australian painter, write and printmaker, Margaret Preston was trained at the Adelaide School of Design and moved to Munich and Paris at the turn of the century. She moved from an academic style during this time and was influenced by Fauvism. In the 1920s her work was characterised by blocky simple shapes painted in oil, later developing to woodcut, lino-cut, masonite-cut and silk screen. Hugely versatile, a good example is her 1927 Implement Blue, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. By the time she painted this, she was considered one of the leading female artists back in her own country. She tended to paint landscapes and flowers, and was driven by the desire to create a distinctive national style of art. She was one of the first Australian artists to appreciate and see the potential in Aboriginal art.