Lot 23

Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
Private collection, Brisbane
Thence by descent
Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne 2002 (label verso)
Private collection, Victoria
Thence by descent

Margaret Olley, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, 2 - 14 October 1963, cat. no. 10
Paintings by Margaret Olley, Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane, 27 October - 11 November 1964, cat. no. 29
Annual Collectors Exhibition 2002, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art at Holmes à Court Gallery, Perth, 20 September - 20 October 2002, cat. no. 55 (as "Girl Reading at a Table")
Annual Collectors Exhibition 2002, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art at Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, 1 November - 14 December 2002, cat. no. 55 (as "Girl Reading at a Table")

Annual Collectors Exhibition 2002, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, p. 46 (illus., as "Girl Reading at a Table")

Painted in 1963, 'Girl Reading' comes from a period of great freedom and creative energy in Margaret Olley's painting. (1) While she would become best known for the richly observed still lifes and interiors that occupied her throughout much of her life, the early 1960s saw Olley turn her attention to the human figure. Among the works to emerge was a group of paintings of Aboriginal women, which attracted considerable attention at the time and remain among the more unusual and compelling works of her career.

In 'Girl Reading', Olley captures her sitter in a moment of complete absorption. Seated at a table, she leans forward, her hands gently clasped beside her face and her gaze directed downwards. There is something wonderfully unguarded about the pose. Rather than addressing the viewer, the young woman appears caught within her own thoughts. Deep green, turquoise and warm orange surround the figure, balanced against the luminous white of her blouse. The effect is intimate and contemplative.

It was in Brisbane that Olley began painting Aboriginal women from the Joyce Wilding OPAL Hostel in South Brisbane, not far from Farndon, her family home at Hill End. Olley travelled daily from Farndon to her antiques shop at Stones Corner and would have seen women from the hostel travelling on the tram. Joyce Wilding later arranged for those interested to pose for Olley. Working directly from life, these sittings became the basis for an important group of figurative paintings produced during the early 1960s.

Initially Olley painted a group of nudes, before increasingly placing clothed figures within the domestic settings already familiar to her practice. She approached the model as a vehicle for the study of light and form (2), while retaining a sensitivity towards the individuality of each sitter. The atmosphere is relaxed and every day, with the simplicity of her compositions drawing attention back to the sitter. There is an ease to these works that gives them a particular intimacy.

Although these paintings sit apart from the still lifes and interiors for which Olley later became so widely known, they share many of the same qualities. Her interest in colour, form and the domestic setting remains, but in 'Girl Reading' it is the quiet presence of the sitter that holds the composition together. The table, chair and surrounding interior frame the young woman without overwhelming her, their strong passages of colour drawing the eye gently back towards her.

The human figure would gradually recede from Olley's practice, while still life and the interior increasingly became the focus of her work. Yet the confidence of these Brisbane years remained, seen in her assured compositions and her ability to find beauty in the familiar. In 'Girl Reading', these qualities are centred upon the sitter herself. Absorbed in her reading and seemingly unaware of the artist before her, she is held in a fleeting moment of stillness.

Hannah Ryan
Senior Art Specialist

(1) France, C., Margaret Olley, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1990, p. 31
(2) Ibid, p. 32

© Courtesy of The Margaret Olley Art Trust & Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, 2026