Arthur Boyd: Agony & Ecstacy
Arthur Boyd: agony and ecstasy is a major exhibition selected from the extensive holdings of the National Gallery of Australia. The exhibition focuses on Boyd’s extraordinary artistic output between 1937 and 1980, providing a rare opportunity to consider one of Australia’s most important artists in depth. An atmosphere of creativity shaped Boyd’s formative years growing up at Open Country, Murrumbeena, an outer suburb of Melbourne. Both his mother and father, Doris and Merric, were artists, as were his paternal grandparents, Arthur Merric and Emma Minnie Boyd, who all inspired him. His maternal grandmother, Evelyn Gough, a social reformer, was also important for her strong spiritual and pacifist beliefs. From Boyd’s intense self-portrait and luminous landscapes painted at the tender age of 17, through the ensuing four decades of work, the exhibition reveals his passion for making art and his exceptional stylistic diversity across paintings, ceramics, prints, drawings and tapestries. The emphasis in this exhibition is on Boyd’s profound engagement with the human condition. This concern came to the fore around the time of the commencement of the Second World War when his expressive works established his reputation at the forefront of Australian art. His depiction of the preciousness and precariousness of human existence became a recurring theme and grew in force from the war years through the ensuing decades.
Featured Works of Art
Paintings in the studio: `Figure supporting back legs' and `Interior with black rabbit'
1973-74
Dreaming bridegroom II
1958
Nebuchadnezzar eating grass in a hilly landscape
1968-69
Three heads
1938
Boat builders, Eden
1948
Wrestling figures (Elektra backdrop).
1962-63
Art & Artists
Referenced
Self portrait in red shirt
1937
Paintings in the studio: `Figure supporting back legs' and `Interior with black rabbit'
1973-74
The gargoyles
1944
The brown room
1943
Three heads
1938
Boat builders, Eden
1948
The prodigal son (Harkaway mural)
1948-49
Dreaming bridegroom II
1958
Reflected bride I
1958
Nebuchadnezzar on fire and Daniel with bound arms
1968-69
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree
1969
Nebuchadnezzar running in the rain
1969
Nebuchadnezzar protecting his gold
1968-69
Nebuchadnezzar eating grass in a hilly landscape
1968-69
Nebuchadnezzar being struck by lightning
1969
Nebuchadnezzar making a cloud
1968
not titled [backdrop design for Royal Ballet production of "Elektra"]
c.1962
Double figure with shark head and horns (Elektra backdrop).
1962-63
not titled [backdrop design for Royal Ballet production of "Elektra"]
1963
Double figure with shark head (for Elektra backdrop).
1962-63
Wrestling figures (Elektra backdrop).
1962-63
Unicorn in a cave with river
1972-73
The lady and the unicorn: Invocation
1974
Figure painting a shadow
1973
Woman injecting a rabbit
1973
St Francis when young turning aside
1972
