Margaret Stones artworks
All works featured in the gift range are part of the University of Melbourne Art Collection and were curated by the Ian Potter Museum of Art
In this early watercolour, Stones demonstrates her strategic placement of the specimen of Casuarina (or she-oak) onto the sheet of paper. She has meticulously recorded the sweep of the segmented branchlets, the texture of the woody cones and the small winged seed, shown at the lower right.
Margaret Stones
Casuarina stricta (now Allocasuarina verticillata) late 1940s
watercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
The Lilly Pilly is an evergreen tree which grows abundantly along Australia’s eastern coast, and is now widely cultivated. The purple fruit ripens in autumn and winter and both the tart flesh and the soft seed inside can be eaten.
Margaret Stones
Lilly-pilly (Syzygium smithii) late 1940s
watercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This early watercolour was painted prior to Stones’ move to London in 1951. It records the shrub known as Geraldton wax, which is endemic to the coastal region between Perth and Geraldton in Western Australia, but is now widely grown. Stones shows her skill in depicting pale flowers and buds against the pale paper.
Margaret Stones
Geraldton waxflower (Chamelaucium uncinatum) late 1940s
watercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
Banksias are one of Australia’s most recognisable plants, growing in a wide variety of habitats. The flower heads contain hundreds of tiny flowers that produce sweet edible nectar, which attracts birds, bats, insects and small mammals, who in turn serve as pollinators. The flower heads can also be sucked or swirled in water to create a sweet drink.
Margaret Stones
Banksia (Banksia marginata) late 1940s
watercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This sheet of colour studies of Gnaphalium indutum shows how meticulously Stones prepared her watercolours, examining each aspect of the tiny flower and carefully recording the magnification scale, the parts of the plant and where, when and by whom it was collected. Stones often hid her signature within these drawings.
Margaret Stones
Gnaphalium indutum 1973
watercolour and pencil
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Purchased with funds from the Charles Duplan Lloyd Trust 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
Exocarpos nanus is a small prostrate plant that grows in Australia’s alpine regions. Stones recorded this during one of three summer expeditions to Victoria’s Bogong High Plains in which she participated (1948–50). Specimens collected during these trips and further drawings by Stones are housed in the University of Melbourne Herbarium.
Margaret Stones
Exocarpos nanus c. 1948
watercolour over traces of pencil
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of Kaye Turner 2001
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This watercolour is one of a group commissioned in the 1940s by Russell and Mab Grimwade, who were introduced to Stones’ art by her doctor Dr Clive Fitts and Daryl Lindsay, director of the National Gallery of Victoria. The Grimwades became her first patrons, and the watercolours hung in Mab’s favourite room in their house Miegunyah.
Margaret Stones
(Banksia formosa and Andersonia caerulea) late 1940swatercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
When Stones moved to London, collector Russell Grimwade wrote to an English acquaintance: ‘Have you seen the flower drawings of Miss Margaret Stones … who a few years ago showed wonderful paintings of local flowers. Mab and I were fortunate enough to acquire quite a dozen of her early pieces ... She has now gone to London where the Kew Gardens have acclaimed her tremendously.’
Margaret Stones
Melaleuca nesophila – W.A. tea myrtle late 1940s
watercolour and pen and ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of the Russell and Mab Grimwade Bequest 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This sheet of studies demonstrates the way that Stones prepared for her finished watercolours by carefully appraising each component of the specimen. This was done by close observation, often under a microscope, drawing each element in fine pencil before the required colours were subsequently added.
Margaret Stones
Crassula pedicellosa (now Crassula closiana) 1973
watercolour and pencil
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Purchased with funds from the Charles Duplan Lloyd Trust 1973
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This crisp, linear drawing is one of the studies Stones produced during University of Melbourne expeditions to Victoria’s Bogong High Plains, to record the impact of cattle grazing on alpine flora. Stones gave twenty such drawings to Professor John Turner in thanks for his early support, and they were later donated to the University by Kaye Turner, Professor Turner’s widow.
Margaret Stones
Diplaspis hydrocotyle (now Diplaspis nivis) c. 1948
brush and brown ink
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of Kaye Turner 2001
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
This small watercolour records Goodenia hederacea, a low-growing perennial plant which grows in various habitats on Australia’s east coast. This specimen was collected on the Bogong High Plains during one of Stones’ summer expeditions. She worked in a scout hut, diligently recording the specimens that were being collected by botanists outside.
Margaret Stones
Goodenia hederacea c. 1948
watercolour over traces of pencil
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Gift of Kaye Turner 2001
© The Estate of Margaret Stones
While there are over a thousand species of rhododendron, Australian rhododendron are found only in rainforests on mountain summits in far north Queensland. Rhododendron lochiae is now widely grown for its glossy red flowers, depicted here by Stones.
Margaret Stones
Rhododendron lochiae 1973
watercolour over traces of pencil
The University of Melbourne Art Collection
Purchased with funds from the Charles Duplan Lloyd Trust 1974
© The Estate of Margaret Stones