Margaret Johnson (artist)

Margaret G. Johnson, (1898 – 1967) was a Sri Lankan born Australian portrait artist.

Early life

Margaret G. Woods was born to father James Wood, a Scotsman in Kadugannawa, Ceylon. She was one of seven children who all had an interest in painting and drawing. At a young age her father immigrated to Western Australia. She was educated in Perth and after completing her schooling was sent to the Glasgow School of Art.

Education

She was fifteen years old when she attended the Glasgow School of Art, three years younger than the usual entrance age. She studied under Maurice Greiffenhagen and Professor McKeller, concentrating on painting and modelling. She completed her four-year course in three years. She returned to Western Australia after the end of World War I and married.

Career

As a portrait artist she specialised in portraiture painting, especially watercolours, but also created works in pencil, pastels and oil. Her portraits would be found in the National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House and at the Perth City Council. Her works include J.W. Johnson Esq., The Tartan Scarf, The Debutante and the Resting Model. Her portraits of Prime Minister John Curtin and Perth Art Gallery curator G. Pitt-Morrison are found in the Art Gallery of Western Australia, while Sir James Mitchell's portrait was in the Treasurer Building and Sir John Kirwan in Parliament House. She also exhibited her portrait of Pitt-Morrison for the Archibald Prize. Her other exhibits for the prize included General Gordon Bennett.

She was a member of the West Australian Society of Arts. She taught painting and art at the Busselton Technical School.

Edith Dircksey Cowan Memorial

In 1934, her model for a portrait plaque of Edith Cowan was chosen from several local West Australian entries to be the choice for a memorial work on a clock tower in Kings Park, Perth. The Cowan bust was in high relief above a wreath of gum leaves and nuts and was cast in bronze, above a bronze inscription on the eastern face of the clock tower.

Busselton Art Society

At the first meeting of the Busselton Art Society on 22 April 1959, Johnson was elected the inaugural president, a position she held for five years. She was also the leading tutor at the Society for eight years; they met in the Primary School Class Room, Prince Street, Busselton.

She also taught at the Busselton Technical College and privately. One of her notable students and fellow Foundation Member of the Busselton Art Society was Mavis Elizabeth Lightly, who was inspired by Johnson to develop her skill. Lightly was an oil painter whose works included landscapes, still lifes and portraits.

The Busselton Art Society held an extensive retrospective exhibition for Johnson in 1969, two years after her death on 26 September 1967, with 73 of her artworks. This was followed 30 years later in 1999, when 28 of her works were shown in a retrospective at the Art Society Gallery, Queen Street, Busselton.