Name

Margaret Cilento

Culture

Australian

Gender

Female

Birth date

23 December 1923

Birth place

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia View on map Close map

Death date

21 November 2006

Death Place

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia View on map Close map

Movements

USA 1947-48; France 1949-50; England 1954-65

Occupations

Artist (painter) | Drawer | Painter | Printmaker

Summary

Worked: Australia (NSW, QLD, VIC), USA, France. Etchings, Engravings

NGA IRN

20143

Context

Australia

Biography

Margaret Cilento

Margaret Cilento was born in Sydney in 1923. She spent her early life in Brisbane, returning to Sydney in 1943 to attend the East Sydney Technical School. In 1947 Cilento travelled to the United States to join her parents and to continue her studies. She worked under Rufino Tamayo at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and at William Hayter's Atelier 17 in New York. In 1949 she participated in the Hayter's Atelier 17 Group exhibition at Laurel Gallery, New York and her print Fall of Icarus was illustrated in the New York Times as an outstanding work. The print was also exhibited in Australia at that time.

Late in 1949 Cilento was awarded a French Government scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she also continued her studies with Hayter, who by that time had relocated his workshop in Paris. In 1951 Cilento visited Australia but she returned to Europe in 1954 where she lived and worked until 1965. Cilento produced most of her prints in the late l940s and early 1950s and is primarily known for her paintings which she exhibits regularly. She presently lives and works in Victoria.

© Australianprints, 1999

Last Updated

09 Jan 2021