Arthur Boyd: Agony and Ecstasy at National Gallery of Australia

By Benjamen Judd

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One of Australia’s greatest painters, Arthur Boyd, is the subject of the latest exhibition now showing at the National Gallery Australia.

Arthur Boyd: agony and ecstasy brings together a series of works that emphasise Boyd’s profound and inventive engagement with realms of the human condition. It is also an opportunity to see many paintings that have never been exhibited before, including The Prodigal Son, painted by Arthur for his uncle, well-known novelist Martin Boyd.

Considered one the greatest of the Antipodeans, Boyd was a prominent figure in the establishing of Australian art on the international stage. He fought for Australian art to be seen as unique and separate from the rest of the world and also against American abstraction, something he feared would become the new orthodoxy in painting.

Mostly known for his paintings, Boyd worked in many other mediums including tapestry. These rare works will be highlighted by having their own separate space and will feature Boyd’s St Francis tapestries woven at the Tapestry Workshop in Portalegre in the early 1970s, which have rarely been seen together. These weavings capture the vitality of Boyd’s original pastel drawings. Seen as a group they reveal the agony and ecstasy of St Francis in ways that were quite distinctive to Boyd’s vision.

Arthur Boyd: agony and ecstasy is now showing at the National Gallery Australia until November 9.