Autumn in St Kilda Road c.1936
oil on canvas laid on board
signed twice lower left: M. PESTELL/ M. PESTELL
titled and inscribed verso
28 x 38.5cm
Estimate $1,000 - $2,000
Private collection, Melbourne
(possibly) The Melbourne Society of Women Painters, Exhibition of Pictures, Sculpture and Applied Art, Athenaeum Art Gallery, Melbourne, 6 - 17 October 1936, cat. no. 100
Margaret (Marna) Pestell commenced her formal artistic training at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in 1926, studying drawing under W. B. McInnes and Charles Wheeler, and painting under Bernard Hall. She remained at the school until 1931, receiving several awards during her studies, including equal first prize for landscape painting in 1929.
Pestell was a longstanding member of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors. During these years, she formed lasting friendships with fellow artists Jessie Traill, Lucy Newell, Norah Gurdon, Anne Montgomery and Dora Serle.
Pestell worked predominantly in watercolour throughout her career, making 'Autumn in St Kilda Road' a rare example of her work in oil. The subject also appears in her linocut 'Lamps, St Kilda Road', held in the collection of the Castlemaine Art Museum.
Women Artists
AUCTION
Sale: LJ8821
6:00pm - 14 September 2026
Hawthorn
VIEWING
Friday 11 - Sunday 13 September, 11am - 5pm
2 Oxley Road, Hawthorn VIC
CONTACT
Hannah Ryan
hannah.ryan@leonardjoel.com.au
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