Margaret Olley AC (1923 – 2011) is one of Australia’s most celebrated painters. Focussing largely on still life and interiors, Olley drew inspiration from her home studio and the beauty of the everyday objects she surrounded herself with.
Olley was born on 24 June 1923 in Lismore, New South Wales. In 1925 the Olley family moved to Tully, in far north Queensland. In c.1931 the Olley family moved back to northern NSW, purchasing a sugar cane farm at Tygalgah, near Murwillumbah. In 1935 the family sold the farm and moved back to Brisbane for a period of time before returning to Tully. Margaret remained in Brisbane to attend Somerville House, a Brisbane girl’s boarding school. It was here that her artistic talent was noticed by her art teacher, Caroline Barker. In 1941, Margaret commenced classes at Brisbane Central Technical College. In 1943 Olley moved to Sydney and enrolled in an art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College.
After graduating in 1945, Olley quickly became involved in the post-war Sydney art scene. In 1948 Olley held her first solo exhibition at the Macquarie Galleries. This was also the year William Dobell painted an Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Olley. Olley departed on her first international trip in 1949. She stayed in France and travelled to parts of Spain, Brittany, Venice, Lisbon and London. When her father died in 1953, Olley returned to Brisbane to live and paint at her mother’s home ‘Farndon’ in Morry St, Hill End, Brisbane, where she remained for 10 years.
In 1964 Olley purchased a terrace house in Duxford Street, Paddington where she set up a flat in an area of the property between the house and the adjoining old Hat Factory buildings as a place for her to stay when visiting Sydney. Olley and her partner Sam Hughes moved to Duxford Street during the mid-1970s where they were based between overseas travel until Sam passed away in 1982. Sadly in 1980 the family home ‘Farndon’ in Brisbane burnt down, resulting in the loss of the family’s possessions and many of Olley’s early works, photographs and objects collected on her travels. Duxford Street became Margaret’s permanent home in 1988 and she continued to renovate the rooms at the back of the property, establishing the Hat Factory as her home and studio.
In 1990 Margaret established the Margaret Olley Art Trust to acquire paintings for public collections. The first retrospective of her work was held at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney in 1990, accompanied by the launch of a monograph written by Christine France. The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) also held a large touring retrospective exhibition in 1996, curated by Barry Pearce. In 2019 a comprehensive retrospective, Margaret Olley: A Generous Life was held at QAGOMA in Brisbane.
Olley held over 90 solo exhibitions during her life time. She was appointed an Officer Order of Australia (AO) in 1991, and awarded Life Governor of the AGNSW in 1997. The AGNSW named the Margaret Olley, Twentieth Century European Gallery in her honour in 2001. She was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2006. Margaret was awarded Honorary Doctorates from Macquarie University, the University of Sydney, the University of Newcastle, the University of Queensland, Southern Cross University, and Griffith University. In April 2011 artist Ben Quilty won the 2011 Archibald Prize with his enigmatic portrait of Olley. When Olley died at her home later that year on 26 July 2011, a state memorial service was held at AGNSW. In 2014 The Margaret Olley Art Centre opened as a purpose-built extension at Tweed Regional Gallery featuring a permanent re-creation of areas of Olley’s famous Duxford Street home studio. It hosts regular exhibitions of Olley’s work, drawn from the Gallery’s holdings and private collections.
