Catherine Hunter | Margaret Olley film | A Life in Paint

Margaret Olley | A Life in Paint

It's for the love doing and if you knew you could do it, I suppose you wouldn't do it. It's something to do with the challenge” Margaret Olley

Margaret Olley, 2005 © Sarah Rhodes

Margaret Olley, Poppies in Spanish Jug | Catherine Hunter Productions

Poppies in Spanish Jug 2011 © Estate of Margaret Olley

“She used to say to me that she had greedy eyes” Cressida Campbell, artist

Margaret Olley - A Life in Paint is an intimate documentary about one of Australia’s greatest painters. A well-known figure from the time she was painted by William Dobell in 1948, Olley’s celebrity status tended to overshadow her life as a painter. This documentary puts Margaret Olley the painter on centre stage. Many believe her last works – those painted in the 18 months leading up to her death on 26 July 2011 – were amongst her finest works.

“I felt the paintings were becoming translucent almost like her skin – there were just layers that were coming through and they became more and more beautiful towards the end.” Ben Quilty, artist

Margaret Olley speaks passionately about her compulsion to paint. Emeritus Curator Barry Pearce takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey through Margaret’s beloved house in Paddington, the Hat Factory. And those closest to Margaret – her art dealer for more than three decades, Philip Bacon; close friend Christine France and fellow artist Cressida Campbell – recall a much-loved friend who remained intrigued by the complexity of painting to the very end.

Margaret Olley’s house, Sydney © Mark Callanan 2012

Director & Producer/Catherine Hunter, Camera/Bruce Inglis, Editor/Paolo Febbo, Additional filming/Michael Joy

REVIEW | Bridget McManus, Sydney Morning Herald, July 19, 2012

Artscape: Margaret Olley - A Life in Paint, ABC1, 9.30pm

“IT RAINED the day 88-year-old Australian artist Margaret Olley died. The moment is frozen in time in the opening sequence of this thoughtful tribute to her life and work. On a car radio, news bulletins and obituaries mark her passing, while through the windscreen, moving imagery of a wet city is hauntingly reminiscent of her paintings. Screening two days shy of the first anniversary of her death, this double-length Artscape documentary interprets Olley's style, passion and artistic evolution through the reflections of her peers, including the former director of the National Gallery of Australia, Betty Churcher, curator Barry Pearce, Olley's dealer Philip Bacon, and Ben Quilty, whose portrait of Olley won last year's Archibald Prize. The famously shy, messy, obsessive and prolific artist is presented lovingly, excerpts from her diaries offering fascinating insight into her process and her drive to paint ''every day of her life'', and her unique perception of ordinary things.”