Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed

by Lesley Harding, Kendrah Morgan

A stunning double biography that lifts the veil on the unconventional marriage of modernist pioneers John and Sunday Reed, and their relationships with some of Australia's most celebrated artists and writers.

Much has been written about the lives and art of Heide, but finally the remaining members of the inner circle have entrusted the full story to be told through this intimate biography of John and Sunday Reed.

Part romance, part tragedy, Modern Love explores the complex lives of these champions of successive generations of Australian artists and writers, detailing their artistic endeavours and passionate personal entanglements.

It is a story of rebellion against their privileged backgrounds and of a bohemian existence marked by extraordinary achievements, intense heartbreak and enduring love. John and Sunday's was a remarkable partnership that affected all those who crossed the threshold into Heide and which altered the course of art in Australia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Art, Australia, History, Historical, Biography Memoir

401 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

Reviews

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurred to read this complex biography by an unsatisfactory fictionalised version of the notorious Reed/Nolan relationship, I highly recommend the biography on all fronts.

The authors, curators at the Heide Museum of Modern Art, have achieved a rare triumph with ‘Modern Love’ – a co-written double biography, social, cultural and art history that is lively, engrossing and moving.

The Reeds are necessarily at the centre of the story, and their significance in the Australian art scene from the 1930s till the 1970s is projected into high relief through their relationships with many artists whose work they encouraged, some of whom shared their home for varying lengths of time.

The characters and life in the art world are fascinating, the writing excellent.

A review:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts...

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a keen interest in anything to do with Sunday and John Reed and Heide Museum, having read numerous books about this fascinating couple. Heide is a place I have visited often and it remains a testament to the work and love Sunday and John have put into it. This book is both a tribute and a revelation. The Reeds led a very colourful life and were at the centre of the Melbourne art scene, responsible for many famous artists starting out. But this book also shows a tragic side and a darker side to their lives. The Modern Love exhibition is currently showing at the museum and I for one will definitely be going to see it. Anyone with an interest in art and history will definitely enjoy this book.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘John and Sunday’s first encounter was casual—at a tennis party at Vailima in mid-1930.’

Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan, curators at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne, have co-authored a fascinating double biography about John and Sunday Reed and the establishment of Heide. In their research for this book, Ms Harding and Ms Morgan have also spoken with the Reed’s remaining friends, and drawn on taped interviews. Reading the book, it becomes clear that they had access to a wealth of material.
A lot has been written about Heide, and it has also been drawn on in fictional settings. Who were John and Sunday Reed, where did they come from and what did they set out to achieve?

John and Sunday first met in 1930 and married on 13 January 1932. John (born John Harford Reed on 10 December 1901 at ‘Logan’, Evandale Tasmania) was a member of an affluent family of Tasmanian pastoralists, read law at Cambridge and had travelled before settling in Melbourne to work as a solicitor. Sunday, (born Lelda Sunday Baillieu 15 October 1905 in Camberwell) into the Baillieu dynasty in Victoria, was an heiress. Her first marriage was unsuccessful. John and Sunday shared a passion for art, literature and nature. In 1934, they purchased Heide (then a run-down 15 acre dairy farm) an established a self-sufficient and alternative lifestyle. The Reeds opened their home to like-minded individuals including artists as artists Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval and Danila Vassilieff. Heide became a place for the avant-garde: Sam Atyeo, Moya Dyring, Max Harris, Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Mirka Mora and Mike Brown also gathered there. With so much talent, a willingness to explore and innovate it’s hardly surprising that the existence of Heide resulted in changing and new creative landscapes.

This book explores the complex lives of those at the heart of Heide, their art and their complicated personal relationships. Romance, tragedy and achievement are each part of the story. Between 1934 and their deaths just ten days apart in 1981, John and Sunday Reed made an extraordinary contribution to the development of modern art in Australia. The book also includes a wealth of photos, as well as colour illustrations of many of the works mentioned.

If you are interested in modernist Australian Art, in the lives of John and Sunday Reed, in the establishment and development of Heide Museum of Modern Art, this is a book well worth reading. It is a detailed and beautifully presented account of the remarkable partnership between John and Sunday Reed and their impact on modern Australian art.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for the opportunity to read an copy of this book.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

From looking at the reviews, I am surprised that this book is not as popular as I thought it would be. This is a valuable resource to anyone interested in Modern Art in Australia, for the Reeds certainly had a great impact on the movement. Meticulously detailed and researched, this book takes the reader through the very beginnings of John and Sunday Reed and the political, economic, social and familial influences that have shaped present-day Heide. Even as someone who does not read a great deal of non-fiction, this book is rarely dull as it is written in such a clear, concise yet engaging manner. I am also impressed with how this book was able to encompass wider themes with intimate, personal stories, integrating them seamlessly. This is not just an ideal read for someone who enjoys art. Due to its multifaceted approach, Modern Love will appeal to anyone with an appreciation for Australian history and culture that is integral to our society today.

[Dilly Dalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

While on a weekend trip to Sydney, I picked up this book in the State Library of NSW bookshop. I'd wanted to read it since I heard about it, so I was pleased to find it while I was browsing the shelves. The whole Angry Penguins, modern art in Australia, Ern Malley hoax, bohemian art circle that included some of the greatest modern Australian artists, offered patronage from the wealthy Reeds - what's not fascinating about that?

This is a book of thorough scholarship, engaging writing and respectful but seemingly honest portrayals of the lives of John and Sunday Reed. If I hadn't had to sleep and feed myself and my family, I probably would have tried to read it straight through.

I was grateful that the writers started the story well back in the social and economic history of both the Reed and Baillieu families. It had some surprising details. While the Reeds came from a long line of upper class wealth, the Baillieus were really just one generation off dirt floor housing in cramped conditions in Geelong. Nonetheless, the rise of the Baillieus was significant enough to create the conditions of privilege and expectation that form Sunday Baillieu and hence, her and John's creative decision to live a life of art, bohemian values, and sustainability in rural Heidleberg, from the 1930s to the 1980s, was radical.

I'm not sure what I enjoyed more -the social history of this outstanding Australian modern art movement or the sensitive and detailed psychological portraits of the main players: John, Sunday, Max Harris, Cynthia Reed/Nolan, Sidney Nolan, Joy Hester, Albert Tucker, Sweeney Reed, Sam Atyeo, Barrett Reid....so many fascinating lives and intersections.

The artistic sensibility that John and Sunday possessed was radical in a way that is often hard to understand once something has been mainstreamed. Nolan was probably the only member of this troupe who achieved significant financial and artistic recognition within his lifetime. Many of the others gave exhibitions where not a single painting was sold. If it hadn't been for the vision and patronage of the Reeds, one imagines these artists would have had to go out and find jobs in pubs, cafes, shops, wasting away their talents. The book is a detailed testimony to the energy, creative drive and unflagging commitment the Reeds gave to the artistic community of Melbourne, while living an explicitly rustic and sustainable gardening life.

There's no getting around the topic though of the complicated emotional and psychological lives of the characters in this artistic community. There is much that is sad, hurtful and tragic in their actions and in the experiences of their lives. Yet there is so much love and passion and community expressed. I have also read the letters of Joy Hester and Sunday Reed (Dear Sun) and I know that Joy wrote lovingly and generously to Sunday throughout her lifetime. I found it so interesting that the drawings and portraits made by Joy, reveal such pain and raw emotional - what is it? - rage? - at the way of seeing, of being seen. Who can forget the eyes in her portraits? They certainly aren't pretty, loving or joyous and yet so much of Joy Hester's communication was about kindness and gratitude and love. I found all of that so fascinating.

I couldn't begin to do justice to the psychological stories in this book. I recommend you read it for yourself. It is a work of impressive social and artistic history that is relevant to anyone interested in Australian art, or in the lives of artists.

[Steve lovell · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the preface of 'Modern Love',- 'When John and Sunday Reed purchased their semi-rural property on the outskirts of Melbourne in 1931, they could hardly imagine that eighty years later it would be the site of a renowned museum and widely regarded as the birthplace of Australian modernism. The intricate way in which the Reeds' lives unfolded has given rise to beguiling mythology - the romanticised tale of Heide and its bohemian inhabitants - that has long captured the imagination of the public and scholars alike.'

Heide's mythology has certainly beguiled me over the years. I thought I knew a fair bit about it. For a while I toyed with the idea of a story, written from a child's perspective - a watcher; drawn to the very different people she espied at the farmstead; reporting on the comings and goings there on the property then fringing Melbourne. Nothing came of it, being replaced by other fascinations in my post-retirement world. Then Emily Bitto's book 'The Strays' up and won the Vogel, the award for female writers, last year. This authorly bar-owner (of Heartattack and Vine, near Readings in Carlton) had the honour of having this, her first book, published by Affirm Press' new fiction list. She, too, is obviously steeped in that aforementioned mystique of the Reeds. What she has come up with, though, is a paralleling story of the Trenthams, a similar couple who operated a sort of open house for their 'strays'. These were bods of artistic intent, picked up along the way. As it turned out, the fictional Trenthams were a far more conservative couple than the Reeds, as I discerned from 'Modern Love'. Evan T is not John Reed. The former was an artist with the temperament that stereotypically goes with those taking to that vocation. Reed, a man of independent means (wife, Sunday, possessed a silver spoon background as well), was an artistic mentor - a word he disliked - of talent; a sometime lawyer and a writer/editor to boot. Unlike the Reeds, who adopted Joy Hester/Albert Tucker's child, the couple of Bitto's imagination had three daughters before semi-adopting 'The Stray's' narrator, Lily. The latter befriended one intriguing daughter, Eva, with, in doing so, joining the family's fluctuating circle. The matriarch, Helena, was a charismatic figure, letting all the children have the run of the place. But as the quartet mature, sexual attraction raises its head and the real world intrudes on Eden. Bitto traces the narrative through to present-day times. Whereas once often reviled, by the artistic establishment, the pair eventually become the darlings of modernism - a resurgence of Aussie art that had its flowering in the forties as war raged around the world. It petered out under the stifling conservatism of the Menzies years when many of our best deserted for the more progressive UK scene. Finally they become lauded gods as they were embraced by the mainstream in the latter decades of last century. Some of the events that affected the Trenthams are factual, such as when, in 1937 RGM, as Attorney-General, formed plans for an Academy of Art to provide a bastion against modern, ie communist, influences, then gaining some traction locally. The Reeds, as well as fictionally, the Trenthams, were outraged by this and were at the vanguard of opposition, forming the Contemporary Art Society (CAS). This period of discourse has prominence in both publications. As one would expect, Lesley Harding's and Kendrah Morgan's 'Modern Love - The Lives of John and Sunday Reed' is full of the who's-who of the art world during their lifetime. As well there are other prominent identities, one such being Doc Evatt - a friend and valued confidante. He gets a mention in the fictional take as well.

'The Strays' is described in its advertorial blurb as '...a beautifully written novel, lyrical and wondrous. Emily Bitto is an elegant writer who knows how to sustain suspense.' This humble scribe would definitely agree. The book is structured beautifully and her wordsmithery is quite sublime in places. The reader is led through the vicissitudes that play out for the Trenthams and their four girls, if we count Lily, as the years advance. It was a fascinating read, a positive page-turner. Ms Bitto's follow-up will be eagerly anticipated.

Fascinating as well is 'Modern Love'. What an incredible story - if this was fiction it would be difficult to believe. I ploughed my way at, for me, a very fast clip through it over a couple of days. I was transfixed. I had prior knowledge of some of the goings on at Heide - Sunday's affair with Sidney Nolan, for instance - but, dear me, the sexual machinations that went on at that place and within their circle. Sidney's passion for Mrs Reed was only the tip of the iceberg. It seems Sunday had an attraction for both genders. There were also some other intriguing combinations involving her, as well as some other pairings, mentioned in passing, that would be interesting to investigate further. The authors, both curators at Heide, did state that they refrained from using some particularly sensitive material available to them, so 'Modern Love' will not be the last word on the Reeds - that will have to wait till the parties concerned are further in the past. But this tome didn't only dwell on the politics of attraction. The contribution the Reeds made to Australian art, just as it was rediscovering its own uniqueness, was astronomical and fully examined here.

Other enlightenments provided by the publication included the damage the constant threat of conscription did to the Heide residents during the war years. There was also the role of the couple in the Ern Malley Affair and the way the pair morphed from being privileged gilded youths to the best known representatives of Bohemian free-spiritedness our country has produced. Then there were the vast array of household names (art-wise today) who succumbed to the bucolic charms of their household. It was also interesting that there were Tasmanian connections as well. John R was born here. His family owned a substantial pile, by our standards, at Mt Pleasant, outside Launceston and Nolan also spent time on the island. Examined were the trips the Reeds made to other parts of Oz and overseas. Then there was the curious question of John's sexuality - just what did he receive in turn from the sexual dalliances of his wife. Finally, heart-breakingly, was the battle to keep their adopted son on the relative straight and narrow before his tragic end.

And to join it all full circle, it was more than interesting to read Emily Bitto's review of 'Modern Love', as published recently in the Fairfax Press. She points to the thoroughness of the research involved and its readability, even if, from her point of view, nothing earth-shatteringly new was added to their legend. 'Modern Love', she concurs, had all the rigour of an academic text, but its lightness of touch ensures it will reach a wider audience as well. There is a judicious use of photographic images, some quite touchingly intimate, bringing to life the major players. Added are some of the seminal works of art of the period. These include paintings by Sam Alyeo (Sunday's initial lover at Heide), Moya Dyring's beautiful portrait of her, Adrian Lawlor's 'John Reed' and several notable daubings by Joy Hester who, with Albert Tucker, are prominent in the book's pages. There's Charles Blackman, John Perceval, Mirka Moya and Arthur Boyd featuring as well. They are all participants in Heide's tale, a riveting account of a couple whose iconic status in the cultural history of Australia is unrivalled. And I submit that it will only grow in stature and mystique - there's that word again - as time progresses.

And for this punter, there's only one thing left to do now that I am fully versed in the life and times of the Reeds, thanks to Bitto, Harding and Morgan - and that's to visit Heide myself. I've been promising myself to do it each time I visit Yarra City, but the transport logistics to actually getting there so far have proven too daunting. I'll eventually sort it out and make it - one day.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in February, my flight from Melbourne to Tasmania was overbooked - something I only learned at the airport when I wasn't allowed to board. With 5 hours to kill until the next plane (plus solo leg of the trip flexibility), I scrolled around on Google Maps. Decided on a whim to get an Uber 40 minutes away to the Heide Museum. I'd never heard of it or the Reeds but figured - modern art and sculpture gardens seem cool?

Serendipity is really the spice of life because Heide ended up being one of my favorite museums, and I got obsessed for a bit learning about this couple. They truly are a latchkey to Australian art history and their personal lives are juicy, scandalous, and chaotic. On the museum grounds is the preserved house of the Reeds, which had tons of cool Sidney Nolan art and title cards that primly but loudly suggest a ton of drama and "unconventional" relationships happening in the house, across/among/between the wealthy Reeds couple and their artistic muses and sponsors. I needed to know more! Saw this book at the gift shop and luckily it was on Libby. It feels so niche as an American, but I'm kind of shocked no one has written a screenplay about their throuple (of sorts) and breakup with Sidney Nolan, a huge figure in Australian modern art thanks to their support and patronage.

The dynamics of muses and voyeurs, people of wealth craving edgy aesthetics, and avant garde intuitions against the comfort of conventions were fascinating. If anything, the last 3rd of this got kind of dry and was peppered with too many new characters, plus overall the tone is kind of academic. I'm also not sure how interesting this is without the intro I had going in. But as far as nonfiction goes - this was genuinely a fun gossipy ride.

[lyny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A non-fiction account of the Heide group, well documented though at times leading to fairly flat prose more like a dictionary entry. Nevertheless it is a very extensive coverage of the history of Heide’s founders and chief patrons, John and Sunday Reed, including the numerous multiple sexual liaisons of the group, and the generosity of John Reed in providing stipends for artists such as Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan and others, and buying houses for artists who needed it – including Joy Hester and others. They in turn fell out with the Reeds and betrayed them. But the circle was a who’s who of Melbourne’s cultural life of the 40s through to the 70s – the Angry Penguins publication venture with Max Harris, and the Ern Malley affair, the interactions and parties and ventures with Arthur Boyd, Philip and Mirka Mora and others, the starting and support of other galleries and publishing ventures, the adoption of Joy’s first son Sweeney and his troubled adolescence and young manhood and eventual suicide; the lifelong feud with Nolan after he first had a passionate affair with Sunday and gave her his original Ned Kelly series, then took up with John Reed’s estranged sister Cynthia and moved to London and offered only ongoing nastiness – and much more. It is an evocative account of a period that seems to have gone (at least in Australia) – both in terms of the kind of private patronage that allowed artists to focus on their work, and their selfishness and debauchery in return, and the rise of new forms of modern art, well connected with international movements as Melbourne moved through different cycles of cultural liveliness and dullness.

[Karen Kao · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sunday Reed née Baillieu was born on a Sunday in 1905 into wealth and privilege. She married John Reed, an equally privileged if slightly less wealthy man of the Melbourne elite. Together, they fostered a generation of Australian artists using their money, their social connections and, in some cases, their sexual favors. The Heide Museum of Modern Art is their legacy.

Modern Love: The Lives of John & Sunday Reed reads like a hagiography. This is perhaps not surprising as the two authors, Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan, are curators of the Heide Museum. Sunday is beautiful. John is upright. Their taste is impeccable.

I had hoped Modern Love would give me insight into modern and contemporary Australian art. I was encouraged by this content warning in the preface to Modern Love.

We are mindful that for people who knew John and Sunday and their adopted son Sweeney, this account will bring to the surface memories both good and bad, but hope that it will, as it has for us, extend understanding of them as individuals–with all their strengths and shortcomings–and as historical identities.

To read the full review, please visit my website for Sunday.

[Debster Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It opened doors to a world and collective of people and lifestyles I had never imagined. I have visited Heide Gallery numerous times as a younger person, loved the art, architecture and extraordinary gardens but never really thought about the people … and their place within and amongst so many Melbourne moments and movements.

It took me longer than usual to read because of some of the complex ideas … and their relationship or contrariness to my own worldview ….

I originally felt fascinated with their lifestyles … the liberality of their choices, sexuality and relationships … I had questions and wondered why my own life had been so narrow …

But they gave so much, took so much and when they became depleted and had no more to give from within, they were deserted … and thankfully the legacy of Heide is much greater than the triviality of their relationship stories.

I am left with a sense of being gutted … Sweeney, John, Sunday ….

And that Sidney Nolan …. I need to read his side of the split but until then ….. grrrrrr

I have so many questions now … much more respectful and deeply situated than the pithy ones I started with.

I can’t wait to visit Heide Gallery again … to pay my respects and to feel gratitude for the legacies, generosity and contributions … they came at a hell of a cost.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought his book 2 years ago on a visit to Heide and started to read it intermittently since then. I am so pleased I persevered after I picked it up the last time because it is a roller=coaster of a read.....or should that be Reed? I had the letters between Joy Hester and Sunday Reed and knew the story of the Reed's adoption of Joy's son, Sweeney. What I didn't know about was the tole of Sidney Nolan in their life. This could have just been another ho-hum story about eccentric rich people who get their jollies from slumming it with artists and intellectuals. But John and Sunday Reed were genuine patrons and patronising not in a derogatory way. They had been compared with the Bloomsbury set and I think this is a valid comparison. What makes the Heide set more interesting is that it existed close to home, We are familiar with Nolan's art and we can visit Heide just outside Melbourne. I can't wait to explore the fascinating lives of the Heide set in more detail.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accidental primer on the history of dynastic wealth in Australia, the surprising extent to which the modern art of a nation can be nucleated around the sustained efforts of a single couple.

A book about Heide has to necessarily maintain the consistent breathless boosterism fealty to the brand. There were a daunting number of characters to keep track of: the beginning of the book was for introductions, but substantial figures from later in the Reeds' life were not necessarily given the same treatment. This made the back half of the book seem impatient for its own ending, "they built the house and then they died".

It still felt like a page turner in a way that is a treat for a work of historical non-fiction.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical and cultural insight into some of Australia's modern artists and writers. It was fascinating to read about an unconventional marriage and how incredible privilege enabled Sunday and John Reed to shape the course of the contemporary art scene in Australia. I wavered between feeling sad for Sunday and her struggles with relationships and fertility and being frustrated at how she made questionable decisions that often negatively impacted many people around her. Regardless, she was an extraordinary woman with an incredible eye for artistic talent and a force in Australia's modern art scene. As someone who grew up hearing many of the names of Australia's elite referred to in this book, it was amazing to learn more about their origins.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

John and Sunday Reed were influential art patrons,bohemians and rebellious privileged Melbourne socialites. Heide the house they created outside Melbourne was an oasis and a retreat for an inner circle of Artists and writers including Sidney Nolan,Arthur Boyd,Joy Hester,The Blackmans,Max Harris to merely scrape the surface.They ate in Georges & Mirka Moras restaurants and had an open but loving relationship which lasted till their deaths,ten days apart. Lesley Harding has thoroughly researched this fine biography of the Reeds and their circle so packed with achievement and loss. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in them.

[Valeria Camara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights into the lives of the Heidi circle and its protagonists. At times dense but worth the effort. I particularly enjoyed understanding how modern art in Australia's 50s and 60s grew and consolidated.

[Nettie Hulme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a very easy read and fascinating look into the art and social scene of Melb/Aus from WW11 from privileged white perspective

Rather a sad bunch of people who made a mess of their personal/emotional lives

I think I derived some voyueristic pleasure from the intimate details...

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, reads like a dream yet provides a nuanced perspective on all these people who were so influential in the Australian art world. My only complaint is that it ended a bit abruptly but otherwise great.

[Elle Brooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for anyone wanting the backstory to contemporary art in Melbourne and the Museum of Modern Art at Heide.

[Mavis Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read on the history of Heide and Australian modern art.

[Tunya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible chronicle of the lives of Sunday and John Reed and Heide.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly had never heard of John and Sunday Reed, but picked up this book because I was interested in the culture/history of Australia. This biography was quite interesting and well-written--it held my interest even though I didn't know who any of the people mentioned were. It starts off recounting the way the two families (Reed and Baillieu) came to Australia, thus setting the stage for John and Sunday to eventually meet and marry. They are a unique couple, and the rest of the book goes in great detail about the relationships they forge and the art they inspired. There are pictures throughout the book to help illustrate what is being described, as well as a collection of artwork in the middle of the book.

This biography contains an impressive amount of detail, but not in a boring way. The authors successfully wove everything together in such a way that I often forgot I was reading about real people and not fictional characters.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the Reeds or the artwork that came out of Heide.

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Alexandra Lagerwey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful dual biography jammed full of names, dates and places that would become so iconic to the Australian art world.

The story of John and Sunday is at times hard to believe due to their incredibly progressive views for 1930s-1960s Australia, but it's all real. They lived such a full life it makes you want to go out and grab the most interesting person you know and delve into their inner workings. It is also a tough read considering their often tragic circumstances.

Lost friends, lost family and loss of direction plagues them in every decade, but somehow they are still inspirational and downright riveting. An amazing book, especially if you live in Melbourne, you'll get a little thrill every time a familiar place is mentioned. An amazing pair, I can't image their biographies being presented in any other way.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, this comprehensive biography of John and Sunday Reed, and their wider circle of friends and acquaintances, is a balanced and sympathetic account which covers a lot of ground. It chronicles their efforts to support Australian artists leading to the establishment of their Modern Art Museum at Heide, which flourishes to this day. It also chronicles the ups and downs of their often troubled personal lives and the complexity of their relationships. Many photos accompany the text, and there’s a wonderful collection of colour illustrations of many of the works of art mentioned. All in all a valuable and important book about these most fascinating patrons of modernist Australian art.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in the Melbourne Art Scene pre and post ww2 then this book will entertain you!
John and Sunday Reed hail from an era of wealth and luxury and privilidge. They they build a nest at Heidi and create a coccoon for their artisitic friends numbering Sydney Nolan,Albert Tucker,Joy Hester,the Blackmans,Georges and Mirka Mora and the Percivals etc.

This is a book that tells a history of Australian art and also explores the complex lives of its inhabitants- it is bohemian and sometimes exhausting in detailing the various ongoing romantic entangelments.

[Happy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a sad tale of love, friendship, death, betrayal and art. I knew very little of the Heide group - what an eye opener. I don't think I have read of so may suicides in one connected group of friends and family, it was very distressing but understandable - they were such passionate people throughout their lives so went out the same way. It would have been an amazing era to live - they were trailblazers in many ways.

[Sherry Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

At last I've finished this book. I started it ages ago but just got caught up reading other books. It is scholarly and full of information about the Australian art world in the first half of the 20th century. I have read quite a bit about the world of the Reeds and Heide so I may not have learned much that was new but it put the relationships of Heide in place with The characters and the art scene. Worth a read if you're interested in this part of Australian art history.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, loved this book!

[Pauline Carrafa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book.