A captivating biography of Sunday Reed, the woman behind Australian modernist art. Born into one of Melbourne's most prominent establishment families, Sunday Baillieu was expected to become a society princess. But this passionate individualist turned her back on upper-class privilege and created a life wholly her own. In 1935, Sunday and her husband John Reed bought Heide, a modest weatherboard house in rural Heidelberg. Heide was not only a home but the focal point for the development of Australian modernism. Until their deaths in the early eighties, the Reeds lived there and cultivated Australia's most significant circle of artists, including Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, John Perceval, Joy Hester and Charles Blackman. In the words of Albert Tucker, Sunday was 'the magnetic force that drew us together, the eye...' While Sunday was a muse to several generations of Australian artists, Sidney Nolan remained her lifelong obsession. Gifted, charismatic and visionary, Nolan was mesmerised by Sunday - and she by him. They were lovers for several tempestuous years. But Sunday was more than Nolan's muse. Award winning biographer Janine Burke argues that she was crucial to his artistic development - preparing his painting materials, inspiring subject matter and perhaps guiding his hand while he painted the Ned Kelly series, executed on Heide's dining room table. Sunday was a demanding and intense woman, known as much for her irascibility as for her generosity. In this compelling biography, The Heart Garden, Burke draws a rich portrait of this complex and brilliant woman who fuelled the fire of Australian modernism, and was at its heart.
Author
Dr. Janine Burke is an art historian and biographer, and has written eight books of fiction and art history. She has degrees from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. She was a lecturer in art history until she resigned from her job to become a full-time writer, which she has been for the last ten years. Her books include Australian Women Artists, 1840-1940, Second Sight, which won the 1987 Victorian Premier's Award for Fiction, and Company of Images, which was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year award and the Miles Franklin Award. Her novel for teenagers, Journey to Bright Water, is published by Mammoth. She also contributed to Libby Hawthorn's anthology of short stories, The Blue Dress. Janine has curated exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, and currently holds a research fellowship at Monash University. She lives in Melbourne, where she regularly reviews, lectures and broadcasts on radio.
