Arthur Boyd: A Life

Although much has been written about the Boyd family, there has never been a book devoted exclusively to Arthur Boyd: one of Australia's greatest artists. This memoir is an absorbing and ultimately very moving piece that goes beyond the standard biography. Over seven years of meticulous research, Bungey has managed to get inside Boyd's head. Instead of the typical image of him as a creative genius from a grand family, she reveals a social misfit whose eccentric relatives caused him to be the brunt of schoolyard taunts. We find a man whose apparently gentle demeanour caused as much harm as good, whose affairs of the heart led to enormous personal angst, and whose life was dogged by a succession of forceful characters like fellow artist John Perceval. Darleen Bungey has written more than just an 'art history' with Boyd as the focus. This is a life portrait of a creative genius, and it is really quite a remarkable piece of work.