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Madonna Staunton / Australia 1938–2019 / Cloth, needle, cotton 1995 / Paint, steel, yarn and cotton on paper / 89 x 64.5cm / Purchased 1996. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Estate of Madonna Staunton
Madonna StauntonCloth, needle, cotton 1995
Not Currently on Display
Cloth, needle, cotton synthesises Madonna Staunton’s paper collages with her sculptural works that use found objects. Composed largely of her own discarded underclothes, which were then used as paint rags, Cloth, needle, cotton refers to the body of the artist through the use of very personal materials.
A strong allegory about the way an artist’s work feeds off their life, this work ultimately leaves the interpretation up to the viewer.
Born and raised in Murwillumbah, in northern New South Wales, Madonna Staunton made Brisbane her home, first exhibiting her paintings with the Royal Queensland Art Society (1956–61), and then the Brisbane Contemporary Art Society (1966–71). From the mid 1970s, Staunton abandoned painting to concentrate on collage and assemblage. These works have a complex lineage that can be traced through Dada, Constructivism, Fluxus and Abstract Expressionism.
Staunton gave new life to found paper, images and things, combining just a few items in works of restrained and cool harmony. As former Gallery curator, Tim Morrell, stated:
A play between randomness and precision animates virtually all Madonna Staunton’s assemblage work. Her sensitivity to tonal and formal arrangement always remains acute during this process and the results are austerely beautiful.1
Staunton returned to painting later in life, committing her eloquence to figurative painting, and these late representational works reveal insights that come with maturity and deep reflection.
Endnotes:
1 Timothy Morrell, ‘Madonna Staunton: Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 13 March – 18 April 2003 [review]’, Artlink, June 2003, <artlink.com.au/articles/2421/madonna-staunton>, viewed August 2020.