Epergne of Apples 1982

MARGARET OLLEY (1923-2011)

Epergne of Apples 1982

oil on board
67.0 x 90.0 cm; 79.0 x 101.0 cm (framed)
signed lower right: Olley

Provenance:
Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney, 1982
Private collection, Sydney

Exhibited:
Margaret Olley, Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney, 2-10 October 1982, cat.17

This work has been catalogued by The Olley Project (courtesy of The Margaret Olley Art Trust & Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane)

Estimate: $60000 - 80000

Result Hammer: $50000

As with majority of her output, Epergne of Apples 1982 was painted in Margaret Olley’s home studio in Duxford Street, Paddington, where the artist lived and worked from 1964 onwards. Her diverse collection of homewares and objets d’art formed a still life painter’s paradise and sustained her creatively until her death in 2011. Her illustrious career encompassed over 90 solo exhibitions, 18 art prizes and awards, and saw her named an Australian National Treasure in 1997. Quite a feat for a self-described homebody, but such is Olley’s talent, charm, and tenacity.(1) As fellow artist and friend, Justin O’Brien (1917-1996) said, ‘God gave Olley an extra battery.’(2)

Olley never conformed to artistic trends. She showed little regard for the contemporaneous movements of abstraction and minimalism, instead persisting with her eminent still lifes and interiors. It is important to note that this commitment to the still life genre was not incidental through lack of exposure to other subjects or movements. On the contrary, Olley travelled extensively and was well-versed in the local and international art scenes. As curator and writer, Christine France, stated, ‘although she is well aware and tolerant of the current trends, Margaret Olley makes no stylistic concessions to fashion in her painting.’(3)

Olley’s compositions were built layer by layer, starting with a wooden table or benchtop, usually draped with a piece of cloth to add texture, then punctuated with an array of bowls, vases and baskets. The vignette would invariably be finished with the inclusion of a natural element in the form of fruit or flowers. Despite this deliberate planning, her arrangements rarely look orchestrated, instead giving the delightful impression that one could simply sit down at the table and, in this instance, pick up the knife and start cutting an apple. Undoubtedly the mark of an excellent still life.

Epergne of Apples 1982 is closely related to Apples 1980, in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Both subjects are simple and unfussy, depicting a humble bowl of apples accompanied by unassuming tableware, set against a shadowy wall. While Olley never felt the need to deliberately seek out influences, they were nonetheless intrinsically absorbed. For example, the well-worn kitchen objects and the homely light we see in both Epergne of Apples 1982 and Apples 1980 are reminiscent of the ‘warmth and simplicity’ of French still life master, Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779).(4) Olley had viewed Chardin’s still lifes and domestic scenes, which are admired for their soft diffusion of light, while travelling through Europe with her ‘great love’ Sam Hughes in the 1970s. Like Chardin, Olley’s still lifes are unapologetic in their domesticity, and seem to carry the same weight as a grand landscape or portrait.

Colour and light are vital components of still life painting, and Olley was a master of both. In Epergne of Apples the light seems to originate from a window to the right behind the viewer, causing shadows to fall diagonally backwards. Olley expertly placed small spots of white paint on the rims and curves of her objects, giving them their fullness and achieving a naturalistic scene while avoiding the banality of photorealism. The softness of the light and shadows suggest it is afternoon, Olley’s favourite time to paint: ‘I love afternoons. I’m not too good in the mornings.’(5) Looking more closely at the simple white tablecloth and brown wall, we see that they in fact contain a multitude of rich colours – greens, blues, purples and oranges – subtly woven together to create a backdrop with texture, warmth and depth. The picture comes together as a whole in a beautiful example of Margaret Olley’s sheer talent as a still life painter.

FOOTNOTES

1. Pearce, B., Margaret Olley, The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2012, p.117
2. Justin O’Brien in 1989 quoted in France, C., Margaret Olley, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2002, p.128
3. France, C., op. cit., p.49
4. Ibid., p.77
5. Pearce, B., op. cit., p.100

Asta Cameron

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