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EDAR516

Week 2 Tutorial Exercise

Evaluating Contemporary Art

Arthur Boyd: Brides, Heide Museum of Modern Art

The Mourning Bride (2) 1958

Oil and tempera on muslin on
board, approx. 90 x 120 cm
Collection of Joy ChambersGrundy and Red Grundy AC
OBE

The artwork is of a substantial size, approximately 90cm tall and 120cm wide. It is large
enough to encourage the viewer to take a step back in order to consider all initial
aspects within the frame, however it is then small enough to invite the viewer to step
forward and deconstruct the finer details.
The background which takes up a large percentage of the canvas is saturated with a
deep and dark hue, appearing with a slight sheet to give the effect of a deep, dark
space. In contrast, the subject matter of the bride and corpse are illuminated with heavy
use of white, and cool colours of blue and green to add dimension. The artwork was
illuminated from above within the gallery to just the right degree that the dark
background of the painting appeared to go deeper beyond the surface of the canvas,
disappearing into the wall. This affect allowed the bride and corpse figure to glow and
illuminate from the wall with striking contrast, perhaps suggestive of a vision from a
dream, or even nightmare.
The visible brush strokes and use of line and composition give the artwork a sense of
movement, especially noticeable on the brides vail and face. This demonstration of
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S00102032

EDAR516

Week 2 Tutorial Exercise

movement, and the use of contrast through colour and line creates a haunting effect.
This haunting or eerie effect is heightened by the expression illustrated on the brides
face, with the mouth wide open as if to suggest sounds that would be expected of a
woman mourning her lover. The bold use of contrast through colour and line, as well as
choice of subject matter gives the artwork a dramatic sense of melancholy, sadness and
loss shared between the tormented lovers.
The artwork is one of many from Arthur Boyds series Love, Marriage and Death of a
Half Caste, more commonly known as Brides. Within the series there were clear
influences from the artists time spent with Aboriginal communities in Central Australia
during the 1950. The series offers insight into racial divide within Australia, depicting just
some of the struggles faced by the impoverished Aboriginal community facing
segregation and oppression by the white Australian population.
This series of artworks has a link to work by Marc Chagall, namely La Marie, which is
french for The Bride interestingly enough. There is a similar use of colour, detail, line
and subject matter, even if it is depicting a different story from a culture and setting far
from that of Arthur Boyds. Both paintings were created within a decade of each other, so
I assume there would have been a large amount of influence by the ideas and styles
being pursued in the 1950s within Modernism.

La Marie, 1950
Marc Chagall
Gouache, pastel, approx. 68 x 53 cm
Private collection, Japan