Ma Mahood

Who is Ma Mahood?

Dr. Marguerite "Ma" Mahood was a painter, potter, printmaker and art historian.

After establishing herself as a graphic artist and watercolourist in the 1920s, Mahood joined the Victorian Artists Society and exhibited regularly. During the Second World War she also exhibited with the Melbourne Social Realism group, which included Noel Counihan, Josl Bergner, Victor O'Connor, Peter Benjamin Graham, Herbert McClintock, Frank Andrew, and Nutta Buzzacott.

In the early days of radio, she lectured on design and wrote articles for the Listerner-in and its Sydney counterpart Radio. From 1931 through 1951 she had a successful career as a full-time potter. Later, Mahood turned to academic life, earning Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in history, with a doctoral thesis on Australian political cartoons in the late 19th century.