Erica McGilchrist is a little-known yet captivating figure in the history of Australia art. After her formative years as a dancer in Adelaide in the 1940s, she became a painter central to Melbourne's burgeoning modernist movement in the 1950s. Her time in post-war Germany in the 1960s set in motion the envirnomental and women's rights activism shaping her later career. Throughout, McGilchrist forged a singular and meaningful path as an artist.

This first account of her artistic output over five decades examines in depth her paintings, drawings and textile works as well as her high-profile commissions in the graphic and performing arts. Though remarkably diverse in style and subject, McGilchrist's work is defined by her strong humanist interests and the progressive social values she held close, reflecting her unswerving belief that 'you make art out of life as you live it'.

Written and edited by Linda Short, with contributions from Juliette Peers and Erica McGilchrist

Published in 2019 by Heide Museum of Modern Art in partnership with Lovell Chen

ISBN: 9781921330490 (soft cover), 139 pp