Lot 134

Solander Galleries, Canberra c.1970s
Private collection, Canberra signed and dated lower right: Olley 68 28.5 x 17.5cm

"Between 1967 and 1968 Margaret Olley travels three times to Papua New Guinea, staying first with plantation owner Geoff Elworthy. On the second occasion she and artist Douglas Annand travel down the Sepik River in a double canoe and meet John Newton who is collecting Sepik River sculpture for the Metropolitan Museum in New York. On the third occasion she goes to Goroka for a sing sing. She is intrigued by the people, sculpture and architecture particularly in the Mapik areas [...]. On all of these trips she paints and draws as well as collecting New Guinea artefacts which later appear as subject matter in her work. She has several exhibitions of paintings based on these trips." Barry Pearce, Margaret Olley, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 1997, p. 26