The Antipodeans were a collective of Australian modern artists, known for their advocacy of figurative art and opposition to abstract expressionism. The group, which included seven painters from Melbourne and art historian Bernard Smith, was active in the late 1950s. Despite staging only a single exhibition in Melbourne in August 1959, the Antipodeans gained international recognition.
Poster for the Antipodeans Exhibition
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, and many canvases feature both. Several famous works set Biblical stories against the Australian landscape, such as The Expulsion (1947–48), now at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Having a strong social conscience, Boyd's work deals with humanitarian issues and universal themes of love, loss and shame.
Arthur Boyd
Boyd (right) in his studio in 1943 with his sister Mary and John Perceval
Olympic Pylon (1956)
A tapestry which is a greatly enlarged version of Boyd's original painting. It is one of the world's largest tapestries and hangs in the Great Hall of the Australian Parliament House.
