Arthur Boyd arrived in London in intending to stay for a few months. So propitious was his arrival however, with Australian art enjoying international esteem, six months turned into twelve years. But it was not just the reception of his work that encouraged Boyd to stay, including a successful retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery in It was London's depth of art collections that deepened his growing passion for mythology as a vehicle to explore the human condition. At the National Gallery Boyd saw one masterpiece in particular that galvanised him towards a new series: Titian's late 'Death of Acteon' on loan from the Earl of Harewood; depicting Acteon being turned by the chaste goddess Diana into a stag after the hapless hunter had seen her bathing naked in a stream; following which, he became mortally attacked by his own hounds. The painting recently acquired, shown originally at Boyd's Whitechapel retrospective, is a supreme masterpiece of the series. Against a background suffused with bituminous sexuality, a white nude with red hair glows like an hallucination.
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License this image. Arthur Boyd was born in Murrumbeena, then just outside Melbourne, into a family of artists. He became part of the Australian art scene, during the 'Angry Decade' of , so called for its focus on the agonies of war that dominated the period. His principle theme was the divine frenzy of love. Boyd travelled to London in and was included in the exhibition of Recent Australian Painting at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in He was given a retrospective at the same gallery in
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The movie never did get released in the USA actually, it did, but only in ! Hollywood — NEA - You may have heard about nudes scenes in movies. When you think about this art form, you probably pops into your mind is a vision of a nude female.
Lithograph titled 'St. Francis with a Brother, preaching naked'. Signed in pencil 'Arthur Boyd', and numbered ''.
