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🇦🇺 Australia /Culture & Society

'Quite emotional': Renowned artist's tapestries on display after 50 years

From ABC Australia · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • A collection of 20 monumental tapestries by renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd, commissioned in the late 1960s, will be displayed in full for the first time at the National Gallery of Australia.
  • The tapestries, depicting Saint Francis of Assisi, were painstakingly hand-woven between 1970 and 1974 by teams of weavers in Portugal, with each work containing millions of stitches and measuring 2.5 by 3.4 meters.
  • The exhibition marks a 50-year ambition to display the full collection, which Arthur Boyd never saw in his lifetime, offering a unique opportunity for the public to experience these significant artworks.

For half a century, a significant collection of 20 monumental tapestries created by one of Australia's most important 20th-century artists, Arthur Boyd, has remained largely unseen in storage. Boyd himself died in 1999 without ever witnessing the full series displayed.

This exhibition has been 50 years in the making. There's been a long-held ambition to display them, and we've finally after all of these years made it happen.

— Elspeth PittSenior curator Elspeth Pitt on the long journey to exhibit the tapestries.

Now, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra is set to unveil the entire collection to the public for the very first time. Senior curator Elspeth Pitt described the exhibition as "50 years in the making," highlighting a long-held ambition to finally bring these works together.

Each of the 20 tapestries comprises between 4 and 8 million individual stitches.

— Ms PittMs Pitt details the intricate craftsmanship involved in the tapestries.

Commissioned in the late 1960s, Boyd envisioned his pastels of Saint Francis of Assisi translated into enormous tapestries. Between 1970 and 1974, skilled weavers at the Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre meticulously brought his vision to life. Each of the 20 tapestries is a testament to their dedication, featuring between 4 and 8 million individual stitches and measuring 2.5 by 3.4 meters. Vera Fino, the workshop's director, noted the hand-woven nature of the works, with weavers working in shifts to meet Boyd's deadlines.

The weaving is all done by hand with no instruments. In some of the cases, Boyd was in a hurry to get them … which means they were done in [three, eight-hour] shifts … so the tapestries could be finished in time.

— Vera FinoVera Fino, director of the weaving workshop, describes the intensive manual labor and tight deadlines.

Boyd's fascination with Saint Francis stemmed from a perceived resonance between the artist and the saint, both of whom were described as artists, poets, environmentalists, and pacifists. The NGA acquired the tapestries in 1975, seven years before the gallery itself opened. While some pieces have been exhibited previously, this is the first time the complete suite will be presented together, an occasion Pitt described as "quite emotional" for its significance in finally realizing Boyd's vision.

He paid an equivalent sum for the works of about three quarters of a million dollars in today's money.

— Ms PittMs Pitt discusses the significant financial investment made by Arthur Boyd for the tapestries.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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