Barry Humphries’ tribute to Margaret Olley

Barry Humphries’ tribute to Margaret Olley was first recited by him in the artist’s presence in 2005.

Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries at the NSW Art Gallery in Sydney in 2005.

An ode to Olley was first recited by Barry Humphries in the artist’s presence in 2005. The revised verses, he suggests, are “best spoken aloud, slowly and distinctly, to a large, intoxicated and inattentive group of art lovers”.

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Few artists lay such claim to our attention
Or have a Public that is so adoring
(Unlike some “national treasures” I could mention)
Margaret, in contrast, wasn’t dull or boring.

Today we celebrate her life in Art
To overlook her genius would be folly
How, you might wonder, can one even start
To sing the praises of Miss Margaret Olley?

A crowded table-top, a pomegranate
A vase of cornflowers or lily spray;
In case you’ve lost your bearings on the planet,
Miss Olley provides a glimpse of Double Bay.

The rugs the jugs, congealing cups of tea,
Colours which Bonnard and Matisse evoke,
The Chinese screen and objects which we see
Behind a veil of Margaret’s ciggie-smoke.

This was her studio, her home, her bower
Distilled on canvas by her hand and brain,
and we are witness to that witching hour
When Wickham Terrace morphs with Duxford Lane.

Hitherto, Australian art had but one creed,
One great pictorial idee fixe had gripped us:
How many ways to paint that wooden weed
That bogan of all trees, the eucalyptus?

With pigments brushed or stippled, smeared or flicked
By master painters or the merest plodder,
Our artists have all struggled to depict
Our vast khaki expanse of koala-fodder.

Against the grain, against the trend and fashion
With works of quiet joy, serene and deep
Miss Olley has pursued her private passion
Disdaining piles of rocks and pickled sheep.

Confronted by Cy Twombly or Damien Hirst
Beneath some dignified museum’s dome,
I’ve heard the floodgates of decorum burst
When “Oll” exclaims “Darling, NO ONE HOME!!”

No “installations” these, there’s nothing funny
About Miss Olley’s painted poetry
Just an array of work worth twice the money
Appealing to all men of taste, like me!

She had the spirit of the truly great
Her faith in Life and Art was never shaken
And if she ever paused to contemplate
She leant on her walking frame … or Philip Bacon.

Loyal to her friends, including me and Lizzie,
She offered us her art, her heart, her skill,
Now Margaret Olley has come back to Brizzie
A still-life painter who was never still.

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The poem appears in Margaret Olley: A Generous Life (QAGOMA 2019), published for the exhibition of the same name at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, opening tomorrow. This weekend in Review, several of her friends — among them Quentin Bryce, Ben Quilty, Cressida Campbell and Brisbane gallerist Philip Bacon — look back on her legacy.