Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval, and then Sidney Nolan, both artists. His wife Yvonne Boyd née Lennie, and son Jamie and daughters Polly and Lucy are also painters.
Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, and many canvases feature both. Several famous works set Biblical stories against the Australian landscape, such as "The Expulsion" (1947-48), now at Art Gallery of New South Wales.
He was a member of the Antipodeans, a group of Melbourne painters that also included Clifton Pugh, David Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval and Charles Blackman.
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He was born at Murrumbeena, Victoria. Boyd had no formal training in painting and drawing, however he studied with his grandfather Arthur Merric Boyd, the New Zealand-born landscape painter and Merric Boyd, the Australian sculptor and studio potter. Early paintings were portraits and of seascapes of Port Phillip created while he was an adolescent, living in the suburbs of Melbourne. He moved to the inner city where he was influenced by his contact with European refugees. Reflecting this move in the late 1930s, his work moved into a distinct period of depictions of fanciful characters in urban settings.
In the 1940s he was a member of the Angry Penguins artistic and literary group. His best-known work is perhaps his Half Caste Bride series in the 1950s, based on his contact with Aboriginal culture in Alice Springs in 1951. He represented Australia with Arthur Streeton at the Venice Biennale in 1958. He joined the Antipodeans Group in the Whitechapel gallery.
He produced several series of works, including a collection of 15 biblical paintings based on the teaching of his mother, Doris Boyd née Gough. Later he produced a tempera series about large areas of sky and land, called the Wimmera series.
Avoiding the social issues raised in works such as Half Caste Child and feeling drawn to European styles of painting, Boyd moved to Hampstead, London in 1960. The same year he held his first London exhibition. While here, Boyd entered another distinct period with his works themed around the idea of metamorphosis.
He started another well known series of works, Nebuchadnezzar, in 1966. This series was a statement of the human condition and is often considered to be his most beautiful.
He returned to Australia in 1971, as one of Australia's most highly regarded artists. In 1978 he bought properties and settled permanently at Bundanon on the Shoalhaven River. He donated this 1100-hectare property to the people of Australia in 1993. His creations now focused on the primeval natural settings found in the Australian bush and in later years explored the interplay between human land use and natural wilderness. Boyd was enthralled by his position near the river and by the scale and moods of the valley landscape.
In 1975 he presented several thousand works to the National Gallery of Australia. In 1979, he was named an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia. In 1992 he was raised to the Companion level of the order (AC). He represented Australia at the Venice Biennale again in May 2000; his painting Dreaming Bridegroom I (1957) sold for $957,000. Another painting of the Bride series, Mourning Bride I (1958) has sold for $833,000. He is represented in all Australian state galleries.
In 1997 for the first time Arthur Boyd exhibited together with the six members of his artistic dynasty under one roof (brothers David and Guy, son Jamie, nieces Lenore and Tessa Perceval). The exhibition (Best of Boyd) comprised 80 paintings and 40 bronze sculptures. The exhibition was held in Galeria Aniela Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park, NSW. Documentary reviews were shown on the ABC TV Australian National News, 18 May 1997 and the ABC TV Sunday Afternoon, June 1997.
Boyd died in 1999, survived by his wife Yvonne Boyd née Lennie, and son Jamie and daughters Polly and Lucy.
Boyd was a master at manipulating elements to express himself. He developed new techniques when he was still a teenager and later changed technique depending on his preferred style, media, location and what he was depicting.
He would often use loose strokes of thickly coated brushes. He applied paint with his fingers and palm because it is quicker, while the body contact directly connected him with the painting. He believed this allowed for a greater sense of freedom and pleasure from the act of painting.
Arthur Boyd's subjects were often mythical, realistic, malformed people and monsters, depicting a tragic drama.[3]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ian Kiernan |
Australian of the Year Award 1995 |
Succeeded by Dr. John Yu |
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