'The death of Arthur Boyd in his 79th year was a great loss to Australian painting and a special sadness for those who have some knowlege of the richness and diversity of Australian painitng in this century and have witnessed, if only at the irregular intervals of his London shows, the tremendous contribution to that richness made by Boyd in the past five decades.' Bryan Robertson, 'Boyd in London: A Friend Remembers', Australian Art Collector.
Arthur Boyd was born in 1920 in Murrumbeena to a very artistic family, Boyd started painting at an early age. He was greatly encouraged by his grandfather, Arthur Merric, also a well-known landscape artist, whom he lived with at Rosebud from 1936-38.
After his time in the army during WWII, Boyd returned to Melbourne where he came in contact with John and Sunday Reed and the Contemporary Art Society. In 1945, he married Yvonne Lennie and lived at Murrumbeena where he made pots and other ceramics. He first found public recognition with his Wimmera and Berwick landscapes of the 1940's and 1950's. In 1959, he moved to Europe where he exhibited his best known series, 'Love, Death and Marriage of a Half-Caste Bride', based on his observations of the Aboriginals in Australia. He returned to Australia in 1971 and in 1973 purchased a property on the Shoalhaven River on the NSW south coast. His beloved landscapes of the Shoalhaven have become some of his most loved and recognizable works.
Throughout his lifetime Boyd generously donated both his properties and thousands of works to the Australian public. He was awarded many prizes and awards, including an Order of Australia and a Retrospective exhibition travelled Australia in 1993. Boyd's work is represented in the NGA, all state galleries, many regional galleries and numerous public and private collections, both nationally and internationally. |
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