Modernist Research Centre – Margo & Gerald

This Gallery site was originally the home and studio of two Modernist artists, Margo and Gerald Lewers (1940s - 1970s). These artists made a significant contribution to the Sydney art scene and to enlivening Penrith’s cultural life – both then and now.

Gerald Lewers 1905 – 1962

Margo Lewers 1908 – 1978

This Gallery site was originally the home and studio of two Modernist artists, Margo and Gerald Lewers (1940s – 1970s). These artists made a significant contribution to the Sydney art scene and to enlivening Penrith’s cultural life – both then and now.

Margo and Gerald Lewers met in the late 1920s while attending art classes at Antonio Dattilo Rubbo’s studio in Sydney. They were married in October 1933. In 1934 they travelled through Europe and enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London. Margo worked on textile design, painting and drawing with wood engraver, illustrator and commercial designer John Farleigh. Gerald studied sculpture with acclaimed English sculptor John Skeaping.

Returning to Sydney, Margo and Gerald were active in the Sydney art community. They continued their artistic practices and exhibited their works in landmark exhibitions – for example Gerald exhibited in the David Jones’ Exhibition 1 show in 1939 and Margo exhibited in Contemporary Australian Paintings at the National Gallery of Canada in 1959. Their work has also been collected by major art institutions, such as the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery of Australia. Gerald Lewers purchased this property here at Emu Plains – then known as Bally Brack – in 1942 and, by 1950, Margo and Gerald made it their permanent home and studio.