Sunday Reed (15 October 1905 - 15 December 1981) was notable for supporting and collecting Australian art and culture with her husband John Reed.
Lelda Sunday Baillieu was born into Melbourne's Baillieu family, niece of William Baillieu, one of Australia's richest men. She was brought up in the family's mansions in Toorak and Sorrento. She was mostly educated by governesses, but she attended St Catherine's School, Toorak for two years from when she was 15. She married an Irish-American Catholic, Leonard Quinn, on 31 December 1926, who gave her gonorrhea during their three year marriage, leaving her infertile. She married John Reed on 13 January 1932.[1] In 1934 the Reeds purchased a former dairy farm on the Yarra River floodplain at Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, which became known as Heide. A number of modernist artists, known as the Heide Circle came to live and work at Heide at various times during the 1930's, 40's and 50's at Heide, and as such it became the place where many of the most famous works of the period were painted. Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan, and Joy Hester, among others, all worked at Heide. Nolan painting his famous serious of Ned Kelly works in the living room there. The Heide Circle is well known for the intertwined personal and professional lives of the people involved. Sunday Reed conducted affairs with a number of them, with the knowledge of her husband. Janine Burke has claimed that she helped Nolan find his style and in the process developed from being a studio assistant to painting sections of the work. Burke suggests that Reed painted the red-and-white tiled floor in The Trial.[2] Nolan left the famous 1946-47 series of 27 Ned Kelly's at Heide, when he left it in emotionally-charged circumstances. Although he once wrote to Sunday Reed to tell her to take what she wanted, he subsequently demanded all his works back. Sunday Reed returned 284 other paintings and drawings to Nolan, but she refused to give up the 25 remaining Kellys, partly because she saw the works as fundamental to the proposed Heide Museum of Modern Art.[3] Eventually, she gave them to the National Gallery of Australia in 1977 and this resolved the dispute. Ten days after the death of her husband, Sunday Reed committed suicide.
Notes
- ^ Burke, Janine (January 2004). The Heart Garden: Sunday Reed and Heide. Milsons Point, New South Wales: Random House. ISBN 1-74051-202-2.
- ^ Burke
- ^ Burke, 350
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reed, Sunday |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Australian art patron |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 15 October 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 15 December 1981 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Victoria, Australia |
