Renowned Australian writer and arts advocate Barbara Blackman has died at the age of 95. Her many occupations – ranging from author and poet to magazine columnist and radio producer – won her national acclaim, and in 2012 she became an Officer of the Order of Australia . Barbara Blackman pictured in 2014 with a painting that she gifted to the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Credit: Justin McManus for Fairfax Media She was married to the celebrated painter Charles Blackman for 27 years and was the muse for many of his Alice in Wonderland paintings. Barbara’s daughter, author Christabel Blackman, said her mother died peacefully on Friday in Canberra, surrounded by family and close friends. Loading “We had Beatles music, scripture and poetry, so it was a really beautiful goodbye,” she said.
Christabel’s book Charles & Barbara Blackman: A Decade of Art and Love – published earlier this year – chronicles her parents’ love story and was inspired by handwritten letters. “I found my parents’ love letters a few years ago, and I realised it told a beautiful story of their romance, but it also told a story of two determined artists,” she said. “I knew someone had to tell their story, so why not me?” Christabel said her mother was “utterly extraordinary”, but acknowledged her life also had “extraordinary challenges”.
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