Never-before-seen Margaret Preston artworks go on show
Two recently discovered paintings by one of Australia's most significant artists are going on show to the public for the first time.
Margaret Preston is best known for her distinctively Australian still lifes and printmaking, but while based in Ireland during World War I, she painted two post-Impressionist views of the coast.
The oil paintings were held in a private collection in Britain, and even art scholars specialising in Preston's work were unaware the paintings existed, according to Art Gallery of South Australia curator Tracey Lock.
The paintings will finally go on public display as part of Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890–1940, currently on at the Art Gallery of South Australia, before opening at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in October.
The exhibition is a joint project by both galleries, with art from their collections making up about half the works on show - what's more, the galleries have acquired one of the Preston paintings each.
With 50 artists and 220 artworks, Dangerously Modern is billed as the first major exhibition to explore the role of Australian women in modernism internationally.
At the turn of the 20th century, waves of women artists left Australia to work overseas, in defiance of social expectations at the time.
Not only did these artists contribute to the development of modernism in Europe, they returned home with fresh ideas that helped modernise Australia too.
The exhibition title comes from an article by artist Thea Proctor, who returned from London to Sydney in 1921 to find her art described as "dangerously modern".
The show also includes work from the likes of Nora Heysen and Grace Cossington Smith, but there are names that are less well known, such as Justine Kong Sing and Stella Marks.
Many trailblazing women artists were successful during their lifetimes, only to find themselves written out of art history in the postwar period, said Lock.
"Almost overnight - bam! They are erased from the record," she said.
Dangerously Modern is no less than an effort to bring these artists back into the historical narrative - and a 65,000-word catalogue with essays from 29 art scholars should help.
Lock believes part of the reason women have been left out is that Australian art history (and those writing it) did not value the themes these artists were exploring at the time.
Rather than the usual tenets of light, landscape and national identity, women artists such as Anne Dangar were exploring notions of spiritualism, for example.
"Our women get lost, they get a bit stuck in some blind spot in Australian art, we don't know what to do with them," said Lock.
"Frankly, it's time to change, and show the power of this work."
While Australia's state galleries regularly loan works, they do not often collaborate on the design and concept of a show.
But when AGNSW and AGSA realised they were preparing similar exhibitions, they decided to work together.
There are Sydney artists such Proctor, Dangar and Cossington Smith, as well as Grace Crowley, while South Australian names include Dorrit Black along with Heysen and Preston.
"Maybe it's in the water or something, but it turns out Adelaide has produced a number of very talented modern women artists," said Lock.
Dangerously Modern is on at the Art Gallery of South Australia until September 7 and will show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from October 11 until February 2026.
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