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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Barry & Anne Pang Collection
• Sale Date:
  18 Oct 2015 ~ 2.30pm
• Lot #:
  33
• Lot Description:
  § Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd
  (1920-1999)
  Waterfall on the Banks of the Shoalhaven River with White Cockatoo
  oil on board
  151 x 120.5 cm
  signed lower right: Arthur Boyd
• Notes:
  Arthur Boyd's extended series of images based around his home on the Shoalhaven River have ensured that the location is now one of the most easily recognised in the history of Australian art. From 1971 until his death in 1999, Boyd produced scores of paintings, drawings and prints featuring multiple viewpoints of the river and the surrounding hills, imbuing them with mythological themes, memories of his family, birds, intruding water skiers and more, but at their core was one essential element - he loved the area and his works reflect this. Such was Boyd's passion that he and his wife Yvonne gifted their combined Shoalhaven properties to the Australian people, a decision made public in 1993.1 Boyd first visited during the blazing summer of 1971-1972 after he had been living in England for fourteen years. Returning to take up the position of Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra, he was invited by the Sydney art dealer Frank McDonald to visit the property Bundanon near Nowra which he co-owned with Sandra and Tony McGrath. In the searing heat, Boyd's re-encounter with the stark contrasts of the Australian bush and the clarity of its light was nothing short of an epiphany, one which was to have a profound influence on his future work. In 1974, he purchased the nearby property Riversdale located in a small valley adjacent to the river and moved there the following year.2 Shortly after, a major flood isolated Riversdale and Ôgave the Boyds direct experience of the river in its destructive mood. Marooned for weeks, they felt that the flood was their bush initiation.'3 Boyd turned the situation to his advantage, walking and painting everyday, learning the terrain by heart. ÔRock orchids and staghorns grew in profusion among cliffs dotted with Aboriginal caves while forests of dark green burrawangs sheltered lyre-birds, bower-birds, cockatoos, lorikeets, owls, wombats and the occasional red-bellied black snake. Besides the beauty of the river lined with willows and stately she-oaks, there were bush tracks arched with wattle and everywhere a profusion of bottle brush, banksia, Christmas bush and wildflowers.'4 In Waterfall on the banks of the Shoalhaven River with White Cockatoo, Boyd has chosen one of the property's many seasonal waterfalls as his focus. As ever, the sky is a deep Cobalt tinged with Rose Madder giving that resonant blue recognised solely by Australians. Characteristically, much of the painting was executed by the artist using his hands instead of brushes. In a documentary film, he discussed his reasons: 'I use my fingers and the palm of my hand as there is a closer connection between what you're doing and yourself than there is if you've got a brush separating you in a way from the canvas. I believe you can get more subtlety and have more personal contact or body contact with the canvas. But then there is that braille sensation too, where you are feeling your way through the painting. É I think the pleasure of painting is really sensual.'5 1 The decision to accept the gift was made by the Paul Keating government in late 1992, shortly before the death of Boyd's brother-in-law Sidney Nolan. It was publicly announced at his memorial in Canberra on Australia Day 1993. 2 Bundanon was purchased a few years later, as were the adjoining properties Eearie Park I and II in 1985, the latter in partnership with Sidney Nolan. 3 Brenda Niall, The Boyds, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2002, p.372. 4 Sandra McGrath, The Artist and the River, Bay Books, Kensington, NSW, 1982, p.56 5 Arthur Boyd, quoted in: Figures in the landscape, 1985, Screen Australia, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqHDyBkq4ak accessed 23.08.15 § Indicates that Resale Royalty of 5% will be applied to the hammer price of this work.
• Estimate:
  A$80,000 - 120,000
• 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.