The decorative vision: 1912-1919

Preston’s expatriate years were spent developing a ‘decorative’ practice, influenced by Japanese Ukiyo-e prints and the post-impressionists. It was exemplified in the flattened spaces, intense pure colour and rhythmic dispersal of forms in her paintings. Art became ‘something made by man to visualise ideas’.

From this time Preston’s art developed to a series of negotiations between representation and abstraction. Her application of Japanese principles became individualised when combined with her powers as a painter of idiosyncratic colour combinations. Attaching equal importance to craft and painting, Preston also extended her skills to printmaking and pottery.