A Bundanon Trust touring exhibition, featuring the work of Arthur Boyd and Peter Porter, will be officially opened at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum on Thursday night.
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Boyd and Porter’s The Lady and The Unicorn will be on display at the museum from July 22 to October 30.
Boyd, one of Australia’s most significant artists worked across numerous mediums throughout his career, including printmaking.
His success in London in the early 1960s and throughout the 1970s introduced the opportunity for numerous high profile commissions and for him to undertake collaborations with fellow artists.
London based, Australian-born, poet Peter Porter collaborated with Boyd over 15 years and they produced between them four significant limited edition books of prints and poems.
For The Lady and The Unicorn, the second project with Porter, Boyd produced 24 bold and evocative etchings in response to Porter’s reinterpretation of the 16th century tale that has inspired musicians, poets, novelists and artists since its rediscovery in the 1840s.
“The Lady and The Unicorn, an astonishing series of images, with violent episodes, tragedy and triumph, foregrounds the unicorn, isolated by its uniqueness and set apart by its fate,” said Bundanon Trust CEO Deborah Ely.
“The series highlights Boyd’s command of the technically complex and demanding process of intaglio printmaking.
“This exhibition encapsulates the story of Arthur and Peter’s collaboration, a unique and generative relationship.”
The etchings and painting in the exhibition are all from the Bundanon Trust collection and also features the complete poems by Porter and reproductions of Boyd’s prints.
A poem in the form of a letter to Porter, from their mutual friend Australian poet Christopher Wallace-Crabbe, reflects upon their intertwined lives and their encounters in London and the Australian bush.