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  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9781741668230
  • Imprint: Vintage Australia
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $34.99

Autobiography Of My Mother




An intimate portrait of an artist by the author of the bestselling Far From a Still Life, Meg Stewart.

An intimate portrait of an artist by the author of the bestselling Far From a Still Life, Meg Stewart.

This delightful biography of Australian painter Margaret Coen is written by her daughter, Meg Stewart, the highly acclaimed biographer of Margaret Olley. Margaret Coen was born into an era when it wasn't easy for a woman to forge an artistic career. Yet she survived as a commercial artist during the Depression, joining Sydney's bohemian set in their sketch clubs and raucous studio parties. She became close friends with Norman Lindsay and married poet Douglas Stewart, which immediately gave her entrée into Sydney's literary circles of the time.

Meg tells her mother's story, first published twenty years ago, in Margaret's voice, with a stream of anecdotes and personal details that build a captivating picture of her life, and of Australian social and artistic history in this era. Meg has also written a fascinating new chapter on her mother's relationship with Norman Lindsay.

  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9781741668230
  • Imprint: Vintage Australia
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $34.99

About the author

Meg Stewart

Meg Stewart, filmmaker, journalist, and author, is the daughter of artist Margaret Coen and poet Douglas Stewart. Her writing includes a biography of Margaret Coen, Autobigraphy of My Mother, and the novels Modern Men Don't Shift Fridges, and The Dream Life of Harry Moon. Far From a Still Life: Margaret Olley was first published in 2005 and has now been updated to take into account the last few years and death of Australia's favourite visual artist.

Also by Meg Stewart

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Praise for Autobiography Of My Mother

'This is a very beautiful book - tender, funny and full of surprises. I loved it - and her!’

Sam Neill

A book that is marked by gentleness, humour and respect. Autobiography of My Mother is told in her mother's voice but it is not mere reportage. The delicacy and craft of a talented writer sustain the narrative.

Bulletin

‘This is a thoroughly enjoyable book of the life of a remarkable woman who achieved her independence when the going was difficult for her sex, told sensitively and charmingly by her daughter.'

Australian Magazine

The book is delightful, the sort of thing people are going to snatch from each other with cries of pleasure and amusement... This really is a happy story, told with humour, sympathy and affection.

Sydney Morning Herald