Mary McCartney Macqueen (29 January 1912 – 15 September 1994) was an Australian artist who was known for her drawing, printmaking and

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...

works on paper. Her artistic style was expressive, gestural and experimental.

Life, training and influences

Macqueen was born Mary McCartney Ballantine, elder daughter of Mr and Mrs A. D. Ballantine, in

Carlton, Victoria Carlton is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Carlton recorded a population of 16,055 at the 2021 census. Im ...

, on 29 January 1912. Inspired by her grandmother's drawings, and encouraged by her parents, she developed a love for drawing from early childhood. Her primary and secondary schooling was at the Princes Hill State School, Mount Albert Central School and the Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne. She studied commercial art for one year in 1927 at the Swinburne Technical College, and took private drawing lessons with Catherine Hardess in 1928 at

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

. In 1930, at the age of eighteen, she married (Thomas) Allan Macqueen or McQueen, son of Rev. Finlay McQueen (died 18 November 1934), a widowed accountant and fruit exporter with two sons, Frederick and Allan. Over the ensuing ten years she did very little drawing and was instead occupied with raising those two and her own daughter and two sons, born between 1931 and 1935. In 1939 Macqueen resumed her drawing and also began to experiment with

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

painting. In 1941 she returned to Swinburne Technical College to study with

William Dargie Captain Sir William Alexander Dargie (4 June 1912 – 26 July 2003) was a renowned Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on eight separa ...

for a term. Her subject matter during this period consisted of everyday domestic scenes at her home, and the buildings, landscapes and people of Melbourne. In March 1945 she held her first solo exhibition of watercolours at the Kozminsky Galleries in Melbourne. In 1946 she attended drawing sessions with George Bell, who spoke to her about Cubism, Georges Braque and Rauol Dufy. However, her intuitive drawing style was at odds with his highly structural approach and she ceased the lessons when her fourth child was born. Between 1956 and 1958 Macqueen attended printmaking classes at the Royal Melbourne Technical College, now RMIT University, where she developed a fascination for lithography. To be able to print at home, she converted an old hand mangle into a press, which she continued to use throughout her artistic career. As her printmaking skills and experience increased she was asked to teach for one day a week at RMIT. This was later expanded to include instructing students in free drawing techniques. She taught at RMIT for more than a decade. In the 1960s, Macqueen began to focus on animals as the subject matter for her work. She often visited the

Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Zoo is a zoo in Melbourne, Australia. It is located within Royal Park in Parkville, approximately north of the centre of Melbourne. It is the primary zoo serving Melbourne. The zoo contains more than 320 animal species from Austr ...

to draw animals from life and was particularly fond of drawing giraffes. After her husband died in September 1970 she embarked on several overseas trips, which included visits to England, Mexico, Kenya, Bangladesh, Canada and the United States. These travel experiences contributed to the 1980s being described by Macqueen as "the decade which was to become the most interesting and productive in my life". Mary Macqueen died at the age of 82 on 15 September 1994.

Style and works

Macqueen's artistic style was typically spontaneous, expressive and gestural. She specialised in line drawing, lithography and mixed media works on paper. Her most successful line drawings efficiently distill the character and essential qualities of her subject matter, which included animals, landscapes and scenes of domestic life. Throughout her career she sought to draw the perfect line. Macqueen believed that "a good pure-line drawing takes every ounce of concentration and effort and is a rare achievement". In the 1970s, the discovery of handmade Nepalese paper in a Buddhist shop was a crucial moment for Macqueen, as it allowed her to explore drawing on the reverse of the paper to create soft translucent colours and delicate tonal washes. A 1988 exhibition of paper works at the Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne consisted of ink,

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

and collage works on Nepalese paper, notably omitting her line drawings. Many of the works were based on scenes from countries she had visited, and they demonstrate the breadth of her experimentation with the medium. Her work in the exhibition shows influences of Cubism and Fauvism.

Accomplishments

Awards

Macqueen was the recipient of numerous prizes, including *

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

Drawing prize, 1957 * May Day prize for drawing, 1958 *

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery is a public art gallery on the Mornington Peninsula, south-east of Melbourne, Australia. The gallery opened in 1971, and holds both traditional and contemporary Australian art. The gallery is host to the Nat ...

Portland prize, 1965 * Spring festival of Drawing (work acquired), 1973 * Ronald award, Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, 1973 * Maitland prize for prints, 1974 * F. E. Richardson prize (for watercolours), Geelong, 1976.

Selected solo exhibitions

The exact number of Macqueen's solo exhibitions is uncertain. Some sources cite "about 26" and others "just under 30" * 1945 Kozminsky Galleries Melbourne * 1948, 1950 Georges Gallery, Melbourne * 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974 Crossley Gallery, Melbourne * 1973, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne * 1976, 1978, 1980 Stuart Gerstmann Gallery, Melbourne * 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane * 1981, 1983, 1986 Tynte Gallery, Adelaide * 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993 Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Selected group exhibitions

* 1943 – 1957 Victorian Artists Society * 1956 ''The Arts Festival'', Olympic Games, Melbourne * 1960 – 1964 Contemporary Art Society Annual Exhibitions * 1963 ''Australian Print Survey'', Travelling exhibition to all State Galleries * 1966 ''Australian Prints Today'',

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington D. C * 1971 ''Contemporary Australian Prints'',

Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

* 1975 ''Recent Drawings'',

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

* 1977 ''Selection of 41 Modern Prints from Australia'', Japan Print Association, Tokyo * 1981 ''Spring Festival of Drawing'', Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre * 1982 ''The College Show'', V.A.B. Regional Development program, travelling exhibition to East Coast Regional Galleries * 1983 ''Australian Perspecta'', Art Gallery of New South Wales * 1984 ''The Australians'', C.D.S. Gallery, New York * 1985 ''Half in the Sky'', Australian Women Artists, Art Gallery South Australia

Represented

Macqueen is represented in many major Australian art galleries such as the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

, Art Gallery of New South Wales,

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

and numerous regional Australian art galleries. Numerous works are also held in the

Cruthers Collection of Women's Art Cruthers Collection of Women's Art is a collection of more than 700 artworks by Australian women, held at the University of Western Australia. It is the only public collection focused on women's art in Australia. The Cruthers Collection was fo ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macqueen, Mary 1912 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Australian women artists Artists from Melbourne Australian lithographers Australian printmakers RMIT University alumni Academic staff of RMIT University Women lithographers People from Carlton, Victoria 20th-century lithographers 20th-century Australian painters Modern painters