Now on view in the Homestead gallery, the exhibition Gifted represents important acts of generosity by collectors and artists to the Bundanon Collection over several decades.
The selected works sit against the larger backdrop of the gift of Bundanon to the Australian public by the Boyd family and indicate the depth and diversity of the Collection.
Gifted celebrates the return of artworks to the Bundanon Homestead following their evacuation during the during the height of the Black Summer bushfires. The remaining artworks will return to the new state-of-the-art, fireproof, collection storage facility in Bundanon’s Art Museum later this year.
At the heart of the Art Museum is the generous gift of artworks. Arthur Boyd built the Collection by bringing together his own work with that of many Boyd family members, along with his personal collection of artwork by his peers. The Collection now also includes over a thousand notable donations from collectors and contemporary artists.
Brett Whiteley’s Palaia, Tuscany, 1977, was a thank you present from Whitely to Arthur and Yvonne Boyd following Whitely’s time at the Boyd family home in Italy. Jennifer Dickerson, Robert Dickerson’s widow, gave The artist at Bundanon to the Collection in recognition of Bob’s many years painting in Arthur’s studio on the property. Arthur’s brother-in-law Sidney Nolan stayed at Bundanon regularly, and painted on the property, for over a decade. Ship in Antarctica is one of many gifts in the Collection from Nolan to the Boyds. Yvonne Boyd’s close personal friendship with Joy Hester is recognised in Girl with rose, c1950, which was passed from Hester’s partner, Gray Smith, to the Boyd’s former brother-in-law John Perceval and eventually on to Arthur and Yvonne. All represent important gifts from one of Arthur Boyd’s Antipodean contemporaries.
Gifted is on view at the Homestead Bundanon until September 2021.
-Ends-
