Margaret Preston and the Art of Seeing Australia August 9, 2026 11:04

Margaret Preston (1875–1963) is one of Australia's most iconic and fearless artists — a painter who refused to follow trends and instead forged a visual language entirely her own.

Born in Adelaide and trained in Melbourne and Europe, Preston returned to Australia with a conviction that would define her career: that great art must be rooted in place. She found inspiration not in the salons of Paris, but in the wildflowers of the Australian bush, the bold geometry of Aboriginal art, and the everyday objects of domestic life.

A Style Like No Other

Preston's work is immediately recognisable. Her still life works — banksias, waratahs, flannel flowers — are rendered in flat, graphic planes of colour with strong black outlines, influenced by Japanese woodblock prints and, later, by the patterns and motifs of Aboriginal art. There is nothing tentative about a Margaret Preston painting. Every composition is deliberate, every colour choice confident.

Her 1929 work Implement Blue and her celebrated series of Australian native flowers brought her national recognition, but Preston was never content to repeat herself. She continually evolved, incorporating Aboriginal design elements into her printmaking and oil paintings decades before such cross-cultural dialogue was widely embraced.

Why She Matters Today

Preston was also a prolific writer and advocate — publishing essays arguing that Australian artists should look to their own landscape and Indigenous traditions rather than imitating European masters. She was, in many ways, ahead of her time.

For lovers of art, design, and the natural world, her work feels as fresh and vital today as it did a century ago. 

Margaret Preston at Paper Parrot

We're proud to carry products by artists like Margaret Preston — bold, beautiful and Australian. Explore our Margaret Preston collection.