This interesting and nicely produced volume celebrates the life of West Australian sculptor and painter, Margaret Priest.

Educated at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art, Priest won the Royal Scottish Academy’s award for best young artist, before arriving in Perth in 1951. She was the first to create an abstract monumental artwork for a public space in Perth – ‘Pioneer Woman’ in the centre of King’s Park – and was intrinsically involved in the development of Perth’s cultural life. A young art student in Glasgow during World War II, Priest was exposed to the modernism of art and artists from Europe such as Picasso, Kathe Kollwitz, Chaim Soutine and Zadkine. She brought that influence with her across the world and put it to constructive and creative use in her new home.