Bundanon has unveiled their major Summer Exhibition, The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women, now open to the public until 15 February 2026.
The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women repositions the creative practices of five generations of women from one of Australia’s most prominent artistic dynasties, revealing a remarkable matrilineal line of creativity and inheritance.
Showcasing more than 300 works spanning painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, printmaking, textiles, filmmaking and design, this timely exhibition brings into focus the often-overlooked creative force of the women of the Boyd family — artists, designers, photographers, and creative collaborators whose contributions, though historically less celebrated than those of their male counterparts, have been central to the family’s enduring legacy and to Australia’s cultural landscape.
The exhibition features works by 23 artists from the Boyd family, including Helen a’ Beckett Read, Margot Beck, Amanda Boyd, Cassandra Boyd, Charlotte Boyd, Doris Boyd, Emma Minnie Boyd, Hermia Boyd, Jessica Boyd, Lenore Boyd, Lucinda Boyd, Lucy Boyd, Polly Boyd, Yvonne Boyd, Lucy Boyd Beck, Ellen Boyd Green, Florence Boyd Williams, Mary Nolan, Alice Perceval, Celia Perceval, Kitty Perceval, Tessa Perceval, Pip Ryan.
Drawn largely from the Bundanon Collection and the Boyd family, with key loans from the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Library of Australia and Heide Museum of Modern Art, it includes several never-before-exhibited works.
Interwoven throughout are eight new commissions and recent works by leading contemporary Australian women artists — Pat Brassington, Elizabeth Dunn, Diena Georgetti, Helen Johnson, Narelle Jubelin, Camille Laddawan, Tjunkaya Tapaya and Timna Taylor. These poetic, critical and material responses engage in dialogue with the Boyd women’s legacy, exploring themes of gender, history and creative inheritance, while realising the Boyd vision for Bundanon as a living, working arts centre.
The Hidden Line celebrates multiplicity — of deep and diverse traditions of artmaking, of vision, and of experience — embodying a shared family ethos that placed the highest value on a creative life. It refers not only to a powerful, shared creative lineage, but also to the subtle, often invisible threads of influence, mentorship and memory that connect generations of artists. It positions the women of the Boyd family as deeply influential proponents of one of Australia’s most extraordinary artistic dynasties.
Exhibition curator Sophie O’Brien said: “The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women is an invitation to reconsider creative contributions that have long informed, guided, and enriched the Boyd story, and to reimagine this legacy for the present. Yvonne was a driving force in the creation of Bundanon as the organisation it is today; politically, environmentally, and in her support for artists. The Hidden Line honours the women artists whose commitment to the creative spirit, in themselves and in others, runs through the history of Australian art. Bundanon is the outcome of a strong matrilineal succession, and is carried forward by new generations of artists from around Australia who come into residence each year. The new commissions in the exhibition reflect this active engagement with artistic practice, resting at the heart of Bundanon.”
Exhibition highlights include: a series of portraits of the Boyd women by their peers and family; delicate watercolours by Emma Minnie a’Beckett Boyd (1858 – 1936), one of the rare female artists of her era able to have a full-time artistic practice with support from her mother, Emma Mills; Yvonne Boyd’s Melbourne Tram (1944), depicting a feminine, human-centred counterpoint to male depictions of postwar Melbourne; Mary Nolan’s striking black and white photographs documenting family life in Australia, the UK, Italy and France, most of which have never before been exhibited; mid-century ceramics by Hermia Boyd who established successful pottery studios with her husband and artistic partner David Boyd; and a series of paintings by Lucy and Polly Boyd, highlighting the ways in which they took their creative inheritance forward.
Rachel Kent, CEO, Bundanon said: “We are delighted to present this deep exploration of the Boyd women’s creative practices across generations. Too often in art history, women are remembered as subjects rather than makers. This important exhibition re-centres the women of this iconic artistic family as prolific creators, whose inheritance resonates today, embodied in the gift of Bundanon — a place dedicated to ongoing creativity and cultural connection.”
A new publication accompanies the exhibition, featuring texts by Dr Helen Hughes, Jennifer Higgie, Anne Ryan and Prof Lisa Slade delving into the work of the Boyd women and its influence today.
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