Margaret Olley: A Generous Life

Ben Quilty, Australia, b.1973 / Margaret Olley 2011 / Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales / © Ben Quilty / View full image
Our major exhibition celebrating the work of leading Australian artist Margaret Olley (1923-2011), ‘Margaret Olley: A Generous Life’ features more than 100 paintings and drawings highlighting the colourful life, legacy and influence of a much-loved Australian artist.

Margaret Olley, Australia 1923-2011 / Pomegranates in a basket 1967 / Oil on board / 76 x 101cm / Private collection / © Margaret Olley Art Trust / View full image
This free exhibition is a celebration of Olley’s extraordinary life as an artist, mentor, muse, passionate collector and donor, and ‘A Generous Life’ will be shown alongside ‘Quilty’, featuring 70 works by Olley’s good friend Ben Quilty.
RELATED: Margaret Olley
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Margaret Olley (right) and Margaret Cilento
at McMahons Point,
Sydney c.1943 / Bequest of Margaret
Olley 2011, Margaret Olley Archive,
Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive / View full image

Ben Quilty, Australia, b.1973 / Margaret Olley 2011 / Collection: Art Gallery of New South Wales / © Ben Quilty / View full image
These two exhibitions by two different yet equally committed artists have been programmed so audiences can consider their respective depth of practice, and Olley’s influence, legacy and connection to Quilty. Olley awarded Quilty the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship in 2002, and whose portrait he painted to win the Archibald Prize in 2011, on display in the exhibition.
Tribute to Margaret Olley
Quilty was at GOMA to create a series of site-specific, hand-drawn portraits of Olley. These large-scale chalk drawings are based on preparatory sketches he made for the Archibald portrait. Quilty has cast in chalk some of the objects Olley gave him over the years; teapots, jugs, and vases, and used these to produce the wall drawings.


Ben Quilty has created a series of site-specific, hand-drawn portraits of Margaret Olley, using a range of objects cast in chalk such as teapots, jugs and other vessels. / View full image

Ben Quilty creates a series of site-specific, hand-drawn portraits of Olley. These large-scale chalk drawings are based on preparatory sketches he made for the Archibald portrait. Quilty has cast in chalk some of the objects Olley gave him over the years; teapots, jugs, and vases, and used these to produce the wall drawings. / View full image
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Feature image detail: Margaret Olley Pomegranates in a basket 1967
‘A Generous Life’ at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) 15 June – 13 October 2019 examined the legacy and influence of much-loved Australian artist Margaret Olley, who spent a formative part of her career in Brisbane. A charismatic character, whose life was immersed in art, she exerted a lasting impact on many artists as a mentor, friend and muse.
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