SHOALHAVEN RIVER WITH CARCASS AND ROSE, c.1974-76

Important Australian + International Fine Art
Melbourne
16 April 2008
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73

Arthur Boyd

(1920 - 1999)
SHOALHAVEN RIVER WITH CARCASS AND ROSE, c.1974-76

oil on canvas

122.0 x 91.5 cm

signed lower right: Arthur Boyd

Estimate: 
$80,000 - 120,000
Provenance

Savill Galleries, Melbourne (label attached verso)
Bensons Collection, Melbourne
Deutscher~Menzies, Sydney, 16 – 17 June 2004, lot 16
Private collection, Sydney

Exhibited

Australian Art, McCubbin to Whiteley, Bundoora Homestead Federation Centre for the Arts, Melbourne, 11 April – 1 June 2003

Related works

River in Flood with Carcass and Rose, 1974-75, oil on canvas, 152.0 x 122.0cm illus. in McGrath, 1982, p. 262
Shoalhaven River with Rose, Burning Book and Aeroplane, 1976, oil on canvas, 158.0 x 122.0cm illus. in McGrath, 1982, p. 272

Catalogue text

'I had been in England during the Great Flood of 1974. When I was visiting Bundanon some time later I heard the story of the devastation that the river had caused. It ravaged the landscape and the stock. The enormous Santa Gertrudis bull at Bundanon had been a victim.

The rose symbolises imposition and the cultural arrogance of the English as they tried to make 'a little England' in Australia. I was also trying to show the fragility of transporting this culture into such a harsh environment. The rose and the carcass are contrasting symbols.'1

1. Boyd cited in McGrath, S., The Artist and the River, Bay Books, Sydney, 1982, p. 262