After Margaret Preston, The Red Bow, Antique 1927 offset print, framed art

A rarely offered striking antique 1927 colour line print (mechanical) extracted from an art journal of the period. After the woodcut by Margaret Preston, The Red Bow, presenting a tightly arranged bouquet of stylised flowers above a brilliant scarlet bow, rendered in Preston’s characteristically bold combination of flattened form, strong black outlines and saturated colour. The National Gallery of Australia identifies this period as the decade in which Preston produced the colourful, consciously decorative woodcuts that remain among her best-known works, informed in part by her interest in Japanese printmaking and design.  This historical example, taken directly from the pages of a scarce 1927 art publication, is presented under glass with a generous stepped cream mount in a simple black timber frame.

Artist biography: Margaret Preston (1875–1963) was one of the most important and influential figures in Australian modernism. Born in Adelaide, she trained at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the South Australian School of Design before studying and travelling extensively in Europe. After returning permanently to Australia, Preston settled in Sydney and became a vigorous advocate for modern art and for the development of a distinctly Australian visual language. She was particularly instrumental in reviving Australian interest in the woodblock print, combining European modernism with lessons drawn from Japanese printmaking and, later in her career, engagement with Aboriginal Australian art and the Australian landscape.  Her long career produced more than 400 prints, and her bold floral and still-life woodcuts of the 1920s have become some of the most recognisable images in Australian art.