1. Margaret Olley held over ninety solo exhibitions during her lifetime.
14 Facts About Margaret Olley
1. 2.
Margaret Olley was the eldest of three children of Joseph Olley and Grace.
3.
The family temporarily moved to Brisbane in 1935 with Margaret staying to attend Somerville House in Brisbane during her high school years.
4.
Margaret Olley was so focused on art that she dropped one French class in order to take another art lesson with teacher and artist Caroline Barker.
5.
In 1941, Margaret Olley commenced classes at Brisbane Central Technical College and then moved to Sydney in 1943 to enrol in an Art Diploma course at East Sydney Technical College where she graduated with A-class honours in 1945.
6.
Margaret Olley received the inaugural Mosman Art Prize in 1947.
7.
Margaret Olley began a 'love affair' with the city and bought several properties in Newcastle and at East Maitland.
8.
Margaret Olley was twice the subject of an Archibald Prize winning painting; the first in 1948 by William Dobell, who painted her in a borrowed wedding dress made of parachute silk, and the other in 2011 by Ben Quilty.
9.
Margaret Olley was the subject of paintings by many of her artist friends, including Russell Drysdale and several by Danelle Bergstrom including a triptych portrait that was a finalist in the 2003 Archibald Prize.
10.
On 10 June 1991, in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, Margaret Olley was made an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service as an artist and to the promotion of art".
11.
In 2006, Margaret Olley was awarded the degree Doctor of Fine Arts honoris causa by the University of Newcastle.
12.
Margaret Olley had put the final touches on the show the day before she died and Philip Bacon, who had exhibited her work for decades, had prepared a catalogue to show her that weekend.
13.
The opening night was attended by about 350 people among whom were the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, who gave an address, in which she said that Margaret Olley's work was often just like the artist, "filled with optimism".
14.
Margaret Olley died at her home in Paddington in July 2011, aged 88.