Margaret Preston’s bold & decorative work

Sun 4 Jun 2017

Australian artist Margaret Preston (29 April 1875–1963) is known for her striking paintings that she produced from the 1920s until the 1950s, however she is also renowned for her woodcuts and linocuts, which she was inspired to make after studying Japanese prints and printmaking techniques at the Musée Guimet, Paris, in 1912.

Bridge from North Shore c.1932 is a bold and decorative work and a fine example of the artist’s style during this period. Like the floral still-lifes the artist produced at this time, many details of the scene have been simplified. The linear textures of tiled roofs, bricks, wire and wooden fences, and the dominant form of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, have been reduced to create a dense mixture of decorative patterning.

This print celebrates the construction of the Harbour Bridge; completed in 1932, it stood as a powerful symbol of modernity and provided a nationwide sense of achievement.

Poet Rex Ingamells celebrated the print in verse in 1944:

Red-roofed two-storey house and red-roofed church,
its spire a flame of red. Between the two
the backyards bathe in golden sun. But search
one inch to find the Harbour’s joy of blue.

Exquisite wood-cut! Ah, superb, bright midge!
Our Nation’s history in the stride of Bridge!