Margo Lewers

Last updated

Margo Lewers
Born(1908-04-23)23 April 1908
Died20 February 1978(1978-02-20) (aged 69)
EducationLate 1920s evening classes with Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo

1934–35 Central School of Arts and Crafts, London

1940–45 evening classes with Desiderius Orban, Sydney
Known forPainting, sculpture, mosaics, ceramics, tapestries
Movement Modernism, Australian modernism, abstract art

Margo Lewers (1908–1978) was an Australian interdisciplinary abstract artist who worked across the media of painting, sculpture, tapestry, ceramics and the domestic arts. She was renowned for a number of major public commissions and for her landscaping and interior design for the family home at Emu Plains. Her early compositions explored colour and formal geometric abstraction; her work became more fluid and expressionist by the early 1960s. She showed extensively in Australia and in several international travelling exhibitions. She won at least fourteen awards and prizes. [1] The Penrith Regional Gallery and Lewers Bequest now stands on her property at Emu Plains. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Margo Lewers, née Plate, was born in Mosman, Sydney, to Adolph Gustav Plate (1874–1913), a German-born grazier, seaman, writer and artist, [3] and his English-born wife Elsie Gill, née Burton. [1] She was the older sister of artist Carl Plate. [1] In the late 1920s she attended Antonio Dattilo-Rubbo's evening art classes where she met her future husband, Gerald Lewers. [1] Travelling to Europe with Gerald, Lewers studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London in 1934 and 1935. In Sydney, between 1940 and 1945, she completed further evening classes with Desiderius Orban. [1]

Career

Early in her career, Margo Lewers opened the interior design shop Notanda Galleries. The shop was based on Bauhaus principles, operating as a design consultancy, and stocked pottery, furniture, handprinted objects and timber objects. During this period, Lewers worked on linen and ceramics toward a solo show at Argosy Gallery. [4] She also worked on creating complementary interior design pieces for the family home, designing wooden furniture to match a cream base in ceramics and linen. Notanda Galleries operated from 1935 to 1939, closing due to wartime restrictions.

In the 1940s, Lewers became a member of the Sydney branch of the Contemporary Art Society and exhibited in their annual exhibitions. The Art Gallery of New South Wales' first art purchase from the Contemporary Art Society was Margo Lewers' work Composition in Blue.

In 1951, Margo Lewers and Gerald Lewers, with their two children Tanya and Darani, moved to Emu Plains. In 1952, Lewers and Gerald held a two-person exhibition at the David Jones Art Gallery, exhibiting painting and sculpture respectively. James Gleeson reviewed Lewers' painting as ambitious but requiring better development of technique. [5] Following the initiative in landscape design and outdoor sculpture that the pair made in their new home, in 1957, Lewers and Gerald were commissioned to create a garden of pebbles, cacti and sandstone for the MLC Building in North Sydney.

In 1960, Lewers held a solo exhibition at Gallery A, an important contemporary art space in Sydney. Two years later, Gerald died, and in 1965 Lewers completed his major public commission, "Expansion", for the Reserve Bank in Canberra. In 1966, Lewers held a solo show of paintings at Macquarie Galleries, and in 1968 she received a further major commission from the Reserve Bank of Australia for a tapestry for their boardroom.

Reception and legacy

Margo Lewers exhibited frequently throughout her lifetime in both group and solo shows and her work was collected by major state galleries. In 1967, she was the subject of the winning portrait for the annual Archibald Prize, painted by Judy Cassab.

While still alive, Lewers began the process of bequeathing her home and the couple's collection of artworks to the local community. In 1981, the Penrith Regional Gallery and Lewers Bequest opened. The site houses Lewers House, Anchers House, a purpose-built gallery, cafe and landscaped gardens. [6] [7]

Since her death, Lewers has received two major retrospectives. A House Full of Paintings, curated by Nina Stromqvist at Penrith Regional Gallery in 2023, and Margo Lewers Retrospective at SH Ervin Gallery, curated by Pamela Bell, 2002. The latter exhibition toured to six regional galleries. She has also been included in a small number of group shows. These include Women of Influence, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 2005 and Sydney 6, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 2015.

Work

Public collections

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Preston</span> Australian artist (1875–1963)

Margaret Rose Preston was an Australian painter and printmaker who is regarded as one of Australia's leading modernists of the early 20th century. In her quest to foster an Australian "national art", she was also one of the first non-Indigenous Australian artists to use Aboriginal motifs in her work. Her works are distinctively signed MP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emu Plains, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Cassab</span> Australian artist (1920–2015)

Judy Cassab, born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter.

Grace Adela Williams Crowley was an Australian artist and modernist painter.

Elisabeth Cummings is an Australian artist known for her large abstract paintings and printmaking. She has won numerous awards including Fleurieu Art Prize, The Portia Geach Portrait Prize, The Mosman Art Prize, and The Tattersalls Art Prize. Her work is owned in permanent collections across Australia including Artbank, The Queensland Art Gallery, The Gold Coast City Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is notable for receiving recognition later in her career, considered by the Australian Art Collector as one of the 50 most collectible Australian Artists.

Imants Tillers, is an Australian artist, curator and writer. He lives and works in Cooma, New South Wales.

Vivienne Joyce Binns is an Australian artist known for her contribution to the Women's Art Movement in Australia, her engagement with feminism in her artwork, and her active advocacy within community arts. She works predominantly in painting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. H. Ervin Gallery</span>

The S.H. Ervin Gallery is a major public art institution housed in the historic National Trust Centre in Observatory Park, Sydney. "The gallery's exhibition programme is designed to explore the richness and diversity of Australian art, both historical and contemporary, and present it in new contexts." The gallery also encourages research and promotes the practice of appraising the work of Australian artists. It is named after Samuel Henry Ervin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desiderius Orban</span> Hungarian painter, printmaker and teacher

Desiderius Orban, was a renowned Hungarian painter, printmaker and teacher, who, after emigrating to Australia in 1939 when in his mid-50s, also made an illustrious career in that country.

Margel Ina Harris Hinder was an Australian-American modernist sculptor, noted for her kinetic and public sculptural works. Her sculptures are found outside the Australian Reserve Bank building in Martin Place, Sydney, in a memorial in Newcastle, New South Wales, and in Canberra, ACT. Her work is held in several Australian public collections.

Glenn Barkley is an Australian artist, independent curator and writer based in Sydney, Australia. As an artist he is represented by Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne and Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami and his works are held in institutional collections such as the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and Artbank.

Peter Bray Gallery was established as Stanley Coe Gallery in 1949 before being renamed in 1951, after a change of management. Situated at 435 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, it closed in 1957. Many of the major names in mid-century Australian contemporary art showed there during its brief, but very busy, lifespan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerio Ciccone</span> Australian artist

Valerio Ciccone is an Australian artist who is best known for his drawings of mass-media events and icons taken from popular culture. He has worked from his Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 1984, where he has also had numerous solo shows. He has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally [see Exhibitions] and his work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Trinkhall Museum, Liège, and the National Sports Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Reid</span> Australian artist

Lisa Reid is an Australian artist, known primarily for her highly detailed figurative works in a variety of mediums. Reid has worked from her Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 2000, where she held her first solo show in 2015. She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally and her work was recently selected for the landmark exhibition Painting. More Painting, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne. Her work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Berry</span> Australian female artist (born 1942)

Dorothy Berry is an Australian artist working in the genres of Outsider art, and Art Brut, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is known primarily for her densely composed depictions of animals and birdlife, executed in pastel. Berry resides in the Melbourne suburb of Kingsbury and has worked from her Northcote-based studio at Arts Project Australia since 1985. Berry's work has been represented in four solo exhibitions, and has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally in group shows, including ‘My Puppet, My Secret Self’, at the Substation, Newport; ‘Inside Out/Outside In’, Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and ‘Turning the Page’, Gallery 101, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and MADMusée, Liège, Belgium, and the Centre for Australian Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Plate</span> Australian painter

Carl Olaf Plate was a prominent Australian modernist painter and collage artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinis Zusters</span> Latvian-born Australian artist

Reinis Zusters was a Latvian-born Australian artist. Zusters was a prolific painter, working predominantly in oils, painting many large landscapes, including triptychs of the Blue Mountains. Zusters drew much of his inspiration from the Australian countryside, depicting the colour and form of nature as a rich and vibrant panorama.

Thelma Cecily Clune was an Australian sculptor, painter, patron of the arts and gallery owner.

Rita Joan Brassil (1919–2005) was an Australian artist who worked with many elements – light, sound, stones and gravel, printed poems, and electronics – to create installation art works that relate to nature. She began exhibiting her work in 1976, after she retired from teaching art in high schools. She participated in many solo and group exhibitions across Australia as well as in Taiwan and Italy. Brassil was one of the first artists to receive the Australia Council for the Arts' Visual Arts/Craft Board Emeritus Award in 1988. On 26 January 2000 Joan was awarded an AM for service to the visual arts in Australia and overseas as a sculptor.

Jutta Feddersen was a German-born Australian fibre artist, sculptor, lecturer.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Crayford, Michael. "Lewers, Hettie Margaret (Margo) (1908–1978)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. ↑ "Penrith Regional Gallery - home of the Lewers Bequest". Gallery. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  3. ↑ A Restless Life: Journeys through the Pacific, Asia and Australasia, Cassi Plate (ed.), Lewers Bequest & Penrith Regional Gallery, 1997
  4. ↑ "TEXTILE DESIGNING... – A Coming Art | Clever Australian Woman Returns from Abroad with all the Latest Handcraft Ideas!". The Australian Women's Weekly. 5 January 1935. Retrieved 12 March 2017– via Trove.
  5. ↑ "Fine sculpture in exhibition". The Sun. Sydney. 6 March 1952. Retrieved 12 March 2017– via Trove.
  6. ↑ "Our Story - Penrith Regional Gallery". Gallery. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  7. ↑ "Visit Us - Penrith Regional Gallery". Gallery. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.