Margaret Preston

Name: Margaret Preston
Price: 45 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780522881851

Recipes for Food and Art

Lesley Harding

$45

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

Melbourne University Press
14 April 2026

The Arts: General & Reference; Biography: general; General cookery & recipes; Biography - Australian

Celebrated for her vibrant and distinctive images of Australian flowers, artist Margaret Preston was an equally colourful and outspoken personality. Less well known is her legacy as a generous and insightful teacher and keen cook, and her deep sense of civic duty. She was passionate about the need for a modern national culture that reflected everyday life. For Preston, the building blocks of such a culture were not to be found in the Australian pastoral landscape tradition, but in the home and garden. Maintaining that art should be within everyone's reach, she published widely on the methods and techniques of a host of creative pursuits - from pottery, printmaking and basket weaving, to the gentle art of flower arranging. She devoted much of her career to the genre of still life, depicting humble domestic objects and flowers from her garden, and often painting in the kitchen while keeping 'one eye on the stew'.

Drawing on recipes from handwritten books found in the National Gallery of Australia and richly illustrated with Preston's paintings, prints and photographs, this book sheds new light on the fascinating private life of a much-loved Australian artist.

By: Lesley Harding
Imprint: Melbourne University Press
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 225mm, Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9780522881851
ISBN 10: 0522881858
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 14 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Lesley Harding is artistic director at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne. She has written a number of books on Australian art and social history, including Cubism and Australian Art (with Sue Cramer), Mirka and Georges: A Culinary Affair (2018), Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed (2015) which was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for non-fiction, Living at Heide, Sunday's Garden: Growing Heide (2012) and Sunday's Kitchen: Food and Living at Heide (2010) (all with Kendrah Morgan).