• Title
  Still life of the taxidermist's studio by Margaret Flockton
• Creator
  Margaret Flockton, 1861-1953
• Call number
  P4/59
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  not after 1898
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Paintings
• Reference code
  9680259
• Physical Description
  1 painting - gouache - 53 x 74 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Margaret Lilian Flockton was born on 29 September 1861 in Sussex, England. She at the South Kensington Art School, London, and emigrated to Australia with her sister in 1881. For seven years, she worked as a commercial artist at Gibbs Shallard & Co. publishers and S.T. Leigh printers, then opened her own studio at 66 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. She joined the Art Society of NSW and exhibited works annually between 1894 and 1901. In 1895, the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchased one of her watercolours and, in 1901, she was invited by Joseph Maiden, Director of the Botanic Gardens and Government Botanist, to illustrate a book he was writing, The Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus. Flockton worked at the Herbarium and completed 308 illustrations for the project, and over 230 for Maiden's second project, The Forest Flora. She finally retired on 24 March 1927. Remaining single her entire life, she died on 12 August 1953 in Sydney. The Margaret Flockton Award for excellence in botanical illustration was established in 2004.
  
  Sources:
  Design & Art Australia Online. "Margaret Lilian Flockton". Accessed 30 April 2024. https://www.daao.org.au/bio/margaret-lilian-flockton
  
  Wikipedia. "Margaret Flockton". Accessed 30 April 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Flockton
• Collection history
  Probably the 'Still Life' (No. 251) exhibited by the Art Society of NSW, September 1898. Passed by descent to Simon Dennis, nephew of Flockton, and borrowed for exhibition in Heart & Home: Women's Decorative Arts & Crafts at Elizabeth Bay House, Sydney, December 1988 to May 1989. Subsequently sold at auction by Lawsons as 'The Taxidermist Studio', Lot 601, on 29 October 2015
• Scope and Content
  Gouache painting by Margaret Flockton depicting the taxidermy of various birds including a sacred kingfisher; ring-necked pheasant; two Mallee ringneck parrots and the lower part of a Japanese heron. A letter, seemingly addressed to the unnamed taxidermist is dated "July 7th, '98" and various tools, chemicals, stuffing, wires and dried ferns are also shown.
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Signed "M.L. Flockton" in lower right corner.
• Date note
  
  Date based on letter in painting dated 7 July 1898 and first exhibition of the work being 4 September 1898
• Subject
  Birds--Australia--Pictorial works.
  Taxidermy.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE21156011

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