Barbara Blackman, a leading patron of the arts and herself a cultural polymath, has died. She was 95.
Blackman died in Canberra on Friday, surrounded by family.
Over a long life, Blackman worked as a writer, poet, radio interviewer, artist, artists' model and served as one of the country's most significant arts patrons. For nearly 30 years, she was married to Charles Blackman, the celebrated Australian painter.
Blind since early adulthood, Blackman recalled in a documentary interview she had not lived a conventional life.
"Blindness is not a negative," she said in 2017. "It is a different way of seeing."
Blackman was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "distinguished service to the arts and to the community, as a supporter of artistic performance, through philanthropic contributions, and as an advocate for people who are blind and partially sighted".
A collection of 149 oral history recordings made by Blackman in the 1980s is held in the National Library, a significant record of 20th century Australian art history.
Barbara Blackman was born Barbara Patterson in Brisbane on December 22, 1928. Her twin sister died 16 days later and her father died when she was three years old.
Introduced to the music of Shostakovich by fellow students at Brisbane State High School, Blackman became a lifelong frequent concert goer. She recalled growing up in a family of writers, living among books and being introduced to music. Blackman was also the youngest member of the Barjai group of writers in Brisbane, and wrote frequently for journals and newspapers.
Diagnosed with optic atrophy in 1950, Blackman's vision rapidly declined until she was completely blind.
"As you gradually lose sight you compensate,'' she told The Canberra Times in 2012. ''I have trouble with people who are sight addicted. It's become more and more of a visual world. I think people are missing a lot."
Blackman, who fought for blindness to be seen with dignity rather than charity, was a pioneer of radio for the print handicapped and was a Blind Citizens Australia committee member from 1976.
Blackman was married to Charles Blackman by 1952, a partnership that lasted 27 years until 1978. The pair had met at Charles's 21st birthday party in 1949.
Blackman was Charles's muse for his Alice in Wonderland series of paintings, which were influenced by Barbara's declining eyesight.
The couple, who lived in 10 different homes through their marriage, had three children - Auguste, Christabel and Barnaby.
An account of the early years of Barbara's and Charles's love story, drawn from their letters, was written by Christabel Blackman and published earlier this year.
Barbara moved to Canberra in 2002, after years on the south coast with Marcel Veldhoven, her second husband. She came to the capital partly, she once recalled, because two of her oldest friends - Judith Wright and H.C. "Nugget" Coombs - had lived here.
A patron of the Canberra International Music Festival, Blackman also donated money to the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Australian National University's school of music.
"I like to work behind the scenes," she said of her long history of anonymous philanthropy. "But I believe it when people tell me you can't have the luxury of anonymity, because what I do encourages other people to do likewise. I hope it's true."
Barbara Blackman is survived by her children Auguste and Christabel.
