MO, PB and the ti-tree 1965

The title of this painting refers to artist Margaret Olley (MO) and poet Pamela Bell (PB), shown here picnicking in the dappled shade of the ti-trees near Ian Fairweather’s hut on Bribie Island, where he lived from 1953. The artwork counters the myth of his reclusive lifestyle, documenting his ‘selectively gregarious’ nature. Fairweather regularly welcomed artists and gallerists to his modest home–studio, which became more accessible in 1963 with the opening of a bridge to the island, though he also lamented the effects of increased visitation.

The year 1965 was one of Fairweather's most successful. His retrospective began its national tour at the Queensland Art Gallery, and the University of Queensland Press published his translation of the Chinese fable ‘The Drunken Buddha’, illustrated with his paintings. These artworks were exhibited with MO, PB and the ti-tree in an acclaimed exhibition at Macquarie Galleries, in Sydney, with reviewer Wallace Thornton admiring the painting’s:

. . . beautiful fabric of planes . . . Colours gently sing in rare harmonies and changes and transitions of tone are placed and balanced with the sureness of the mature master.