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• Auction House:
  Deutscher and Hackett
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian + International Fine Art
• Sale Date:
  21 Apr 2021 ~ 7pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  29
• Lot Description:
  Arthur Boyd
  (1920 – 1999)
  Untitled (Old Testament Subject), c.1950 – 52
  glazed ceramic tile
  40.5 x 42.5 cm
  signed lower centre: Arthur Boyd
• Provenance:
  Geoffrey Dutton, London, acquired directly from the artist c.1960; Ninette Dutton (née Trott), New South Wales; Private collection, New South Wales, acquired from the above prior to 2007
• References:
  We are grateful to Jamie Boyd and Polly Boyd for their assistance with this catalogue entry.
• Notes:
  A ceramic tile for a Rolls Royce? That was the equivalent value for Arthur Boyd’s "Untitled (Old Testament)", c.1950-1963, when the poet Geoffrey Dutton acquired it in exchange for his Rolls in 1963. The two had been friends since 1940, and Dutton was on an extended visit to London, purchasing the car as his transport whilst there, having been advised it was a wise investment due to the Rolls’ retained value at re-sale.1 The Boyd family had been resident there since 1961, and when Dutton explained the reason for such an expensive short-term purchase, the artist made the exchange proposition, which the poet happily accepted. Boyd was then engaged in a sequence of tiles of larger dimensions than those in the inaugural series shown at Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne, in 1952. "Untitled (Old Testament)" returns this earlier scale, and it is plausible that the artist crafted it so in order to pair it with an earlier tile, "The Money Changers", 1950-52, already owned by Dutton. Boyd’s fascination with Old Testament stories started with his grandmother reading to him from an illustrated bible, ‘the tinted engravings in the text being as marvellous as they were bizarre.’2 Alongside his brother-in-law John Perceval, Boyd created a cycle of biblical paintings after World War Two, infused with the character of northern Renaissance artists, particularly Rembrandt – ‘perhaps the most humane and psychologically penetrating interpreter of the Bible’ – and the earthier, rambunctious Pieter Bruegel the Elder.3 Having also established the AMB pottery with Perceval, Boyd started exploring the possibilities of glazed ceramic as a medium for narrative tiles. As the series progressed, Boyd experimented with colour and increased the darkness of his backgrounds, a tactic which ‘projects the figures forward – they often fill the pictorial field in height – in sharpened dramatic confrontation.’4" Untitled (Old Testament) "vividly records a fierce struggle between an unarmed man and four guards, the design of whose spears creates a ‘dominant pictorial rhythm, a strong telling and pervading gesture.’5 When the first series of tiles was exhibited, critics wrote positively of the their likeness to stained glass and the ‘very immediacy of the work (which) commands admiration, and the senses respond without question to warm glowing colour, and the sparkling brittle textures imparted by the ground.’6 In his autobiography, Dutton records that "The Money Changers" later fell off a wall sustaining a visible crack, and it may have been this knowledge that determined Boyd’s choice of creating this companion artwork for his friend. There was, however, a last-minute drama with the exchange. Dutton had been warned to unscrew the Rolls Royce’s Flying Lady hood ornament each evening in case of theft, but got very drunk on his last night in London and forgot to do so. It was indeed stolen, so when Dutton turned up at Boyd’s house with the car, he had replaced the ornament temporarily with a Maxwell House coffee jar lid.7 There is no mention of "Untitled (Old Testament)" in Franz Philipp’s catalogue raisonné, published with the artist’s input in 1967, but neither does it record Dutton as the owner (by then, for some fifteen years) of "The Money Changers".8 As such, the emergence – with impeccable provenance – of this powerfully conceived, yet previously undocumented ceramic tile by Arthur Boyd, is a moment of some note. 1. Dutton, G., "Out in the open: an autobiography", University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1994, p.288; 2. Gunn, G., ‘Tribute. Arthur Boyd: 1920-1999, "Art and Australia", Sydney, vol. 37, no. 2, December 1999/January-February 2000, p.207; 3. Pearce, B., "Arthur Boyd: retrospective", Beagle Press, Sydney, 1993, p.171; 4. Philipp, F., "Arthur Boyd", Thames and Hudson, London, 1967, p.68; 5. Ibid.; 6. The Age Art Critic, ‘Art Notes: middle course could lead to beauty’, "The Age", 26 August 1952, p.2; 7. Jamie Boyd, correspondence, 10 March 2021; 8. Philipp, F., "Arthur Boyd", Ibid., p.250, no.37 ANDREW GAYNOR
• Estimate:
  A$20,000 - 30,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.