Cirrus@Austlit

'Celebrated for her vibrant, distinctive pictures of indigenous flowers, Margaret Preston was an equally colourful and outspoken personality. She was passionate about the need for a modern national culture that reflected local conditions and vernacular qualities. For Preston, the building blocks of such a culture was not to be found in the pastoral landscape tradition of Australian art, but instead in the home.

'Maintaining that art was an integral part of everyday life and that is should be within the reach of everyone, she published widely on the methods and techniques of a host of artistic pursuits, from pottery, printmaking and basket weaving to the gentle art of flower arranging. She devoted much of her career to the genre of still life her aesthetic laboratory table;using humble domestic objects and often painting in the kitchen while keeping 'one eye on the stew'.

'Richly illustrated with Preston’s art, photographs and her recipes" for food, art and interior décor" this book sheds new light on the private life of much-loved public figure.' (Publication summary)

'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.' (Publication summary)

'When Sunday and John Reed purchased Heide, now the site of Heide Museum of Modern Art, it was a neglected former dairy farm. At the end of their lives, it was unique among Melbourne's parklands, densely forested with exotic and native flora, with a stunningly beautiful cottage-style kitchen garden the jewel in its crown—in all, an extraordinary aesthetic accomplishment, the result of fifty years of vision, dedication and sheer hard work. The Reeds moulded Heide into a personal Eden, connecting art with nature and creating a nourishing environment for the artists they championed—Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Charles Blackman and Mirka Mora among them.

'Sunday's Garden explores the growing of Heide, and in doing so fully restores the Heide garden into the literature surrounding this inspiring site, its creators and the makers of its myths.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Sunday Reed was a passionate cook and gardener, who believed in home-grown produce, seasonal cooking and a communal table.

'Sunday's Kitchen tells the story of food and living at the home of John and Sunday Reed, two of Australia's most significant art benefactors. Settling on the fifteen-acre property in 1935, the Reeds transformed it from a run-down dairy farm into a fertile creative space for artists such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester and Charles Blackman.

'Richly illustrated with art, photographs - many previously unpublished - and recipes from Sunday's personal collection, Sunday's Kitchen recreates Heide's compelling and complex story.' (From the publisher's website.)