Margaret continues her attraction to drawing both children and dancers with this work. While the title suggests they are coming from or going to a party, they instead appear as though ballet practice has just finished. There is a hint of the coquettish look of a ballet dancer in the girl on the right while the girl on the left appears to be somewhat glad the practice is finished. Nevertheless, she positions her feet as she has been taught, both girls with their hands folded. The simplicity of the posed pair is interrupted by the filigree pattern on the furniture, Margaret continuing her love of the use of traditional designs to signify “one’s creative responsibilities.” 

This is a highly skilled double portrait, the drawn lines of charcoal and conte contributing to the mood of the work. While the children pose diligently, there is a suggestion that all is not friendly between them, the competitive nature of the ballet ensemble - one Margaret observed during her many visits to the Australian Ballet rehearsals - perhaps evident to the artist as she watched them over the course of the sittings.

While the work might appear to have been an immediate and quick portrayal of the two girls, it is most likely that they would have had to sit for a series of sessions. The work conjures what it must have been like for the two girls in the lofty Hornsby studio, the birds singing outside in the adjoining gardens, the girls watching Margaret choose her charcoal sticks to best mark out the paper with their images. There would also, of course, be her trusty canine companion wandering around the girls before slumping at Margaret’s feet, both dog and girls wishing they could escape to play outside.

Exhibitions and competitions: 

Margaret Woodward, Wagner Art Gallery, Paddington, September 2010.

References 

Margaret Woodward quoted in Drawn Together, Parramatta, Parramatta City Council, c2005, p.63-5.