Sunday Reed (born Lelda Sunday Baillieu) (15 October 190515 December 1981) was an Australian patron of the arts. Along with her husband, Reed established what is now the
Heide Museum of Modern Art
The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is s ...
.
Personal life
Reed was born on 15 October 1905 in
Melbourne, Australia, to Arthur Sydney Baillieu and Ethel Mary Baillieu ().
She was a member of Melbourne's Baillieu family and the niece of
William Baillieu, one of Australia's richest men. She was the third of four children and was homeschooled by a governess until she was 15. Reed finished her education at
St Catherine's School, Toorak.
In Melbourne, Reed met Leonard Quinn, an American living in England. They were married on 31 December 1926 at
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a coastal town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Sorrento recorded a popula ...
and traveled in France and England for two years. Reed was diagnosed with
gonorrhoea
Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with ur ...
in 1929. The disease and several operations including a
hysterectomy left her unable to bear children and deaf in her right ear; after her diagnosis, Quinn deserted her in England. Through family influence and connections, she was able to obtain a divorce from him on 31 June. She met solicitor
John Reed at a tennis party in 1930.
They married on 13 January 1932 at
St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. It is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Melbourne and the seat of the Archbishop of Melbourne, who is also the metropolitan archbishop of the Province of Victoria.
...
. Their marriage was recorded with the state but not with the church.
In the 1930s, Reed studied art under
George Bell in his Bourke Street Studio School in Melbourne. Her only remaining work is a landscape drawing, showing her skill with colour and form.
In 1934, the Reeds purchased a former dairy farm on the
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, ( Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia.
The lower s ...
at
Heidelberg, Victoria
Heidelberg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, northeast of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Banyule local government area. Heidelberg recorded a population of 7,360 at the 2021 census.
Once a la ...
, now
Bulleen
Bulleen ( ) is an eastern suburb in Melbourne, Australia, 13 km north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Bulleen recorded a population of 11,219 at the 2021 census ...
, which became known as "Heide". They were both interested in many forms of art, including jazz, poetry, and writers. The couple hosted a variety of artists, for whom Reed would cook.
According to Andrew Stephens, talented artists at Heide "helped shape Australian art from the 1930s on".
The Reeds lived on the property until their deaths in 1981, a short time after the property had become the
Heide Museum of Modern Art
The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is s ...
.
Reed cultivated a selection of wild roses, along with many other flowers. In 2015, about 150 of the 250 bushes she planted remained. She was resourceful in obtaining cuttings and plants, having some imported from overseas. The Reeds also sought out nurseries specialising in old roses, and sourced plants from
Alister Clark, who bred some of Australia's more popular roses.
The couple supported the
Communist Party of Australia
The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political parties, Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membersh ...
(CPA). John helped fund CPA candidates in federal elections.
The Reeds took over care of and eventually adopted
Joy Hester
Joy St Clair Hester (21 August 1920 – 4 December 1960) was an Australian artist. She was a member of the Angry Penguins movement and the Heide Circle who played an integral role in the development of Australian Modernism. Hester is best known ...
's son Sweeney after Hester was diagnosed with
Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...
in 1947.
John Reed died of cancer on 5 December 1981. Sunday Reed died by suicide ten days later, on 15 December.
Reed was the aunt of
Ted Baillieu
Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of ...
, who in 2010 became
Premier of Victoria
The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assemb ...
.
Heide Circle
A number of
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
artists came to live and work at Heide at various times during the 1930s, 40s and 50s; many of the most famous works of the period were painted there. These artists were known as the
Heide Circle
The Heide Circle was a loose grouping of Australian artists who lived and worked at "Heide", a former dairy farm on the Yarra River floodplain at Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, counting amongst their number many of Australia's best-known modernis ...
and included
Sidney Nolan, husband-and-wife couple
Sam Atyeo and
Moya Dyring,
Albert Tucker and
Joy Hester
Joy St Clair Hester (21 August 1920 – 4 December 1960) was an Australian artist. She was a member of the Angry Penguins movement and the Heide Circle who played an integral role in the development of Australian Modernism. Hester is best known ...
(who married in 1941),
John Perceval
John de Burgh Perceval AO (1 February 1923 – 15 October 2000) was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members include ...
, and
Laurence Hope, among others. Nolan painted all but one of his 1946–47
Ned Kelly
Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...
series on the dining room table.
The Heide Circle is known for the intertwined personal and professional lives of the people involved. Atyeo had an affair with Sunday; Dyring had an affair with John.
Art historian
Janine Burke has suggested Nolan and Sunday Reed had a close collaborative relationship. According to Burke, Reed helped Nolan find his artistic voice and in the process developed from a studio assistant to painting sections of the works herself, in particular the red and white squares in ''
The Trial
''The Trial'' (german: Der Process, link=no, previously , and ) is a novel written by Franz Kafka in 1914 and 1915 and published posthumously on 26 April 1925. One of his best known works, it tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and p ...
''.
Nolan left his Kelly paintings at Heide when he departed under emotionally charged circumstances in 1947. He had lived in a
ménage à trois
A () is a domestic arrangement and committed relationship with three people in polyamorous romantic or sexual relations with each other, and often dwelling together; typically a traditional marriage between a man and woman along with anothe ...
with the Reeds for several years. Nolan wanted Sunday to commit herself to him and after her refusal he married John Reed's sister Cynthia.
Although he spoke to the Reeds only once again, his years there have been seen as a significant factor in all their lives.
Nolan once told Reed to take what she wanted, but he subsequently demanded all his works back. Reed returned 284 of his other paintings and drawings, 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
The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is s ...
.
She gave them to the
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
in 1977, resolving the dispute.
In the 1950s, Heide was again the centre of a circle of younger artists and poets, including
Charles Blackman,
Robert Dickerson,
Judith Wright
Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 191525 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights. She was a recipient of the Christopher Brennan Award.
Biography
Judith Wright was born in Armidale, New So ...
,
Barrett Reid,
Charles Osborne,
Laurence Hope and
Nadine Amadio. Reed was the first person to buy Blackman's work extensively. In the 1960s, Sweeney Reed invited his circle of artist and poet friends to Heide; these included
Les Kossatz,
Allan Mitelman,
Shelton Lea and
Russell Deeble.
In popular culture
According to David Rainey, the relationship between Sunday Reed and Sidney Nolan is the basis for
Alex Miller
Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...
's 2011 novel ''
Autumn Laing''.
Philippe Mora
Philippe Mora (born 1949) is a French Australian film director.
Early life and career
Philippe Mora was born in Paris, France in 1949, and grew up at the centre of the Australian arts scene of the 1950s and began making films with an 8mm camera ...
's 2013 film ''
Absolutely Modern'' discusses modernism, the female muse, and sexuality in art; it is based on 1940s Heide.
Rainey's 2014 play ''The Ménage at Soria Moria'' is a fictitious performance piece exploring the relationship between the Reeds and Nolan, both during Heide's heyday in the 1940s and in the years after.
Namesakes
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
and
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an Australian-American musician, singer, guitarist and songwriter known for his work in country music. Recognized with four Grammy Awards, Urban also received fifteen Academy of Country Music Award ...
's daughter Sunday Rose Kidman, born in 2008, is said to be named after Reed; Kidman's father,
Antony Kidman
Antony David Kidman (10 December 1938 – 12 September 2014) was an Australian psychologist and academic. He was the father of actress Nicole Kidman and journalist Antonia Kidman.
Early life and education
Kidman was born in Randwick and grew ...
, has said he suggested the name.
Urban stated in a 2009 interview that she was named after the day of the week, not Reed.
Notes
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Sunday
Heide Circle
1905 births
1981 deaths
Australian art patrons
Women art collectors
1981 suicides
People from Camberwell, Victoria
People educated at St Catherine's School, Melbourne