Arthur Boyd: St Francis Tapestries

Scholarly and beautifully illustrated, including up-close details of the tapestries, this magnificent hardback is the perfect way to experience Arthur Boyd’s miraculous tapestries.

A renowned figure in Australian art, Arthur Boyd is particularly well known for his paintings. His tapestries, however, are hidden gems that have received relatively little attention. Boyd’s series of 20 textiles known as the Life of St Francis (1972–74) are particularly awe-inspiring in their vision, scale and artistry. On the occasion of the National Gallery exhibition Arthur Boyd: tapestries, which exhibits the cycle all together for the very first time, this stunningly illustrated book unpicks this textile cycle’s fascinating context, and weaves the story of their miraculous creation through Boyd’s collaboration with the renowned tapestry workshop Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre in Portugal.

The book includes full reproductions of the tapestries and elucidates Boyd’s idiosyncratic and humanist interpretation on the life of Saint Francis. The first essay by Elspeth Pitt, Senior Curator, Australian Art, dives poetically into Boyd’s background and his use of biblical and literary sources as vehicles for artistic expression. It also suggests that Boyd entwined the life of his father, the artist William Merric Boyd, with that of Saint Francis, exploring them both as conflicted figures who resided at the peripheries of human society and experience.

The second essay by Adam Lindsay, Deputy Director, beautifully illuminates the technical brilliance of the tapestries and the intertwined challenges of their creation with the weavers’ artistry. This process is brought to life through first-hand details, photos and archives from the Manufactura.

This is the definitive publication on Boyd’s St Francis tapestries.