Margaret Hannah Olley Australia, 1923-2011
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Where to buy or sell art works by Margaret Olley
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About Margaret Olley
Born in Lismore, New South Wales in 1923, and soon after her family moved to Tully, Queensland. In 1941, she commenced classes at Brisbane Central Technical College, then in 1943 she moved to Sydney and enrolled in an art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College. In 1948 Olley held her first solo exhibition and the next year travelled Europe where she worked and studied for four years before returning to Sydney. Margaret Olley held over 90 solo exhibitions during her career, and won a number of art awards, including the Helena Rubinstein Portrait Prize in 1962. She was awarded Life Governor of the Art Gallery of NSW and had the Twentieth Century European Gallery named in her honour in 2001.
Margaret Olley is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1972 of 860, of which 664 (77%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $208,636 for Still Life with Harbour View, C.1995 sold by Deutscher and Hackett in November 2021. This year 5 works have been offered for sale. Works by Margaret Olley are held by the Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of NSW and a further six major public national galleries (see list below).
Margaret Olley is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 743
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 519
- Germaine, Max. A Dictionary of Women Artists of Australia. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1991. Page 344
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 350
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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