OLLEY, Margaret (1923-2011) 'Tamarillos and Jugs,' c.1980. Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, label verso. Oil on Board 52x82cm
PROVENANCE: The Private Collection of Barry Pearce, former Head Curator of Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
OTHER NOTES: Olley travelled through Spain in 1974, and her eyes became alerted to the darker palette of painters from that school, in particular Velasquez and Ribera. Chardin too, one of her favourites, occasionally painted tonally restrained still lifes, influencing some of her beautifully simple night settings such as this. But there is evidence here too of a personal melancholy. 1980 was the year when her beloved family home in Brisbane, Farndon, burned down and she lost early work and memorabilia. And so, profoundly saddened by the tragedy, Olley banished flowers in a poetic meditation on impermanence, the intense red of tamarillos in this case assuming a symbolic resistance against the encroaching dark, imbued through her absolute determination to stay alive and working. Estimate $28,000-35,000