Jug and Shell Still Life Oil Painting Signed Anne Montgomery

A table and jug are heavily outlined. The shape of a white seashell is superimposed, with a ghostly idea of it’s internal spiral and speckled surface sketched in. The table surface is covered in sgraffito curls while heavy brush strokes build texture in the background. Montgomery’s painting vibrates with lively observations of colour and texture.

It was purchased from the artist’s own studio (the address is penciled on the back) for a single owner collection, then passed down by descent.

Anne Montgomery has for many years been one of the women artists Australia forgot. Not any more. Along with the likes of Clarice Beckett and Lina Bryans, her work is now recognised as an important part of Australian modernism.

The breadth and quality of Montgomery’s work over a long lifetime has always been appreciated by other artists. As Australian women artists in the mid Century period were relegated to the fringes of the establishment, they freely explored their own vision and developed their own style. Montgomery’s work richly deserves further attention.

The opportunity to own such paintings will only become rarer. Anne Montgomery’s paintings now fetch record prices for her work, as they come to market and collectors snap up paintings by the neglected Australian women artists of the mid 20th century.

Note: The frame is a hardwood hand-tinted frame, recycled, with a new linen slip. Tape remnants adhering verso. The frame may have been done by the artist, as it appears the framing has not been professionally made. There is some unevenness to the closure of joints in the frame and the linen slip is simply linen pulled over composition card.