Letters of John Reed: Defining Australian Cultural Life 1920-1981

Collection of selected letters of writer and publisher John Reed (1901-1981), spanning from 1920 to his death. Reed was best known for the lifestyle and friends he and his wife, Sunday, fostered at their property, Heide, on the outskirts of Melbourne, during the 1940s. Writers and artists such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, John Perceval, Danila Vassilieff and the Boyds gathered there to work and live, and Reed's enthusiasm for radical artists and counter-culture continued into the 1960s and '70s. The selection of correspondence attempts to illustrate his influence over the Australian modernist movement and his determination to bring artists and writers onto the international modernist stage. Includes photos, list of cited works, and index. The correspondence is introduced and annotated by Underhill, who has been Foundation Head of the Department of Art History and Director of the University Art Museum at the University of Queensland, where she still teaches. Other publications include 'Making Australian Art 1916-1949'. Co-editor Reid (d.1995) was part of the Heide community and Chief Executive of the Public Library Division of Victoria, co-founder of the National Book Council and editor of 'Overland'.Reed, John is the author of 'Letters of John Reed: Defining Australian Cultural Life 1920-1981' with ISBN 9780670815067 and ISBN 0670815063.