Margaret Cilento (1923-2006)

Biography
1923 Born Sydney
1937 Studied art with Martyn Roberts and Caroline Barker in Brisbane
1943 To Sydney, studied East Sydney Technical College
1944 Returned to Brisbane for war work camouflaging
1946 Returned to Sydney
1946 Won Wattle League Scholarship – administered by Brisbane’s
1946 Half Dozen Group of Artists, Brisbane
1946 Won Home Front Section of the Australia at War Exhibition
1946-47 To New York City
1947 Studied at Hayter’s Atelier 17
1948 Also studied with Rufino Tamayo and The Subjects of the Artist School
1948 Won the Village Voice Art Competition
1949 Studied on a French government scholarship at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and
Hayter’s Atelier 17 (Paris)
1951 Returned to Brisbane
1952 Took over the studio workshop at St. Mary’s, Kangaroo Point and taught privately
1953 Painted scenery for concert production La Traviata, Brisbane
1953 Painted a mural for the Pink Elephant Cafe, Brisbane (now destroyed)
1954 To London
1954 Studied at the Central School of Art, Goldsmith’s College
1961 Illustrated: Cilento, R. Moreton Bay Adventure, Michael Joseph, London
1962 Illustrated: Abicair, S. Tales of Tumbarumba, Parrish, London
1962 Poster for The Royal Court Theatre’s production of Pirandello’s Naked
1963 Married
1965 Returned to Melbourne
2006 Died 21st November

Selected Group Exhibitions
1951 Moreton Galleries, Brisbane
1952, 53 Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1954 Moreton Galleries, Brisbane
1981 UAM, Brisbane
1984 Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1990, 92 Adam Galleries, Melbourne
1993 Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
1994, 96, 99 Adam Galleries, Melbourne
1999 Focus Exhibition, Q.A.G.
2001, 04 Adam Galleries, Melbourne

Selected Group Exhibitions
1940Archibald Competition, AGNSW, Sydney
1945 Wynne Prize, AGNSW, Sydney
1945 Under 30 Group, Sydney
1945 Contemporary Art Society, Sydney
1945 Herald Exhibition of Present Day Australian Art, national tour
1946 Contemporary Art Society, Sydney
1946 National Exhibition of Art, Australia at War (2 versions), national tour
1946-48 Half Dozen Group of Artists, Brisbane
1948 1st Indiana Print-Drawing Annual, Bloomington, USA
1949 Atelier 17 Exhibition, Laurel Gallery, New York City
1949 The Print Club, Philadelphia
1951 Half Dozen Group of Artists, Brisbane
1951 Salon de Mai, Paris
1951 Queensland Art, Commonwealth Jubilee Celebrations, QAG, Brisbane
1951 Archibald, AGNSW, Sydney
1951 Australian Section, Festival of Britain, Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, London
1952 Show of Sixes, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1952 Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane (2 exhibitions)
1952 Half Dozen Group of Artists, Brisbane
1952 Queensland Artists of Fame and Promise, Arts Council of Australia, Queensland Division
1952 Sir John Sulman Competition, AGNSW, Sydney
1953 Exhibition of Drawings and Prints, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
1953 Half Dozen Group of Artists, Brisbane
1953 Queensland Artists of Fame and Promise, Arts Council of Australia, Brisbane
1955 The Redfern Gallery Summer Exhibition, London
1965 Blake Prize for Religious Art, Sydney

Selected Bibliography
Art Critic – Macquarie Galleries, Sydney Morning Herald, August 26, 1953
Boudaville, G. “Colonies Etrangeres a Paris”, Arts, Paris, September 22, 1950
Devree, H. “Diverse Modernism” Atelier 17, Laurel Gallery, New York Times, March 20, 1949
Gleeson, J. “Macquarie Galleries”, The Sydney Sun, April 27, 1952
Hauser, W. “Paris oder Greenwich Village”, Der Bund, No 116, April 11, 1948
Langer, G. “Half Dozen Group of Artists”, Courier Mail, Brisbane, May 11, 1953

Represented
Australian National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery
National Gallery of Victoria
University Art Museum, Brisbane
Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Brisbane
Art Gallery Castlemaine, Victoria
Queensland University of Technology
Weaton College Collection, Norton, Mass., U.S.A.
McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin, Victoria
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria
New England University
Howard Hinton Collection