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Australian Artist Biographies History The Boyd Family The Boyd Family

One Of Australia’s Most Influential Art Family’s – The Boyd Family

Who were they? They were probably Australia’s most pivotal Art Family Dynasties of the 19th and 20th centuries, changing the artistic landscape in Pottery, Art, Literature, and Architecture in Australia.

Spanning over 100 years, the Boyd’s where involved with innovative Australian artists, Arthur Streeton, Robert Dickerson, Charles Blackman, John Percival, Sidney Nolan, Clifford Pugh as well as art dealers John & Sunday Read.

Today, we will dive deeper into the lives of this pivotal family, the art movements they started, the people they were involved with, and the legacy they leave in Australia.

Content:

  1. The Start Arthur Merric & Emma Minnie Boyd
  2. The Next Generation
  3. William Merric Boyd
  4. Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Boyd
  1. Theodore Penleigh Boyd
  2. Martin A Beckett Boyd
  3. Helen A’beckett Read
  4. Second Generation
  5. Lucy Boyd Beck
  1. Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd
  2. Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd
  3. Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd
  4. David Fielding Gough Boyd
  5. Mary Boyd
  6. In Closing
  7. Further Reading

The Start Of An Artistic Dynasty

Arthur Merric Boyd | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Boyd’s artistic dynasty started with Arthur Merric Boyd Snr and his wife, Emma Minnie à Beckett.

Son of a captain, John Theodore Thomas Boyd, Arthur and his family moved to Australia in the mid-1870s from New Zealand.

Here in Australia, he met Emma Minnie à Beckett at the national gallery of Victoria school they were attending. 

Emma, an artist herself, was encouraged by her parents to foster her talent. 

Fortunately, with Minnie’s parents’ help, they were able to pursue their careers as artists and as a family, including going to Europe in the 1890s with their two young sons.

In 1886 they had their first child Gilbert Boyd, who tragically died after a fall from a horse in 1896, William Merric Boyd in 1888, Penleigh Boyd in 1890, Martin Boyd in 1893, and their youngest and only daughter Helen 1903.

“Lake Scene with Figures” Circa 1890’s Emma Minnie Boyd (Australian 1858-1936) | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Both Arthur and Emma were prolific artists moving to England in the 1890s both exhibiting in the Royal Academy in 1891, after which they moved briefly to Paris, but had to return to Melbourne after the land boom ended, in 1893-94, Emma teaching her art students in her city studio.

During this time in Melbourne, the Heidelberg school was forming, the Boyd’s who were well acquainted with the artists who worked at the Heidelberg school could not participate due to family circumstances. 

The Heidelberg school artists were adopting their unique take on French impressionism and were interested in painting art distinctively Australian.

Arthur, though, did not mix much with the artistic life of his time. 

However, they did travel overseas from time to time and spent their summers in Tasmania, where some of his best artwork was created, exhibiting them at the Victorian artist society.

Emma exhibited her work frequently, being one of the more versatile Australian artists, and her work varied.

She was a contemporary artist like James Conder, Arthur Streeton, Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts exhibiting alongside them.

Living in Sandringham and surrounding suburbs, Emma died in September 1936, and Arthur died in July 1940. Emma was one of the most prolific and consistent woman artists of her time and with a career that significantly outlasted that of Jane Sutherland, for example, and was very involved with her children in encouraging them to be involved in the arts.

The Next Generation

Surviving Arthur and Emma were William Boyd, Penleigh Boyd, Martin Boyd & their only daughter Helen Read (Boyd).

Three being an artist & one being a Novelist, they won many awards & were successful, travelling the world.

William Merric Boyd

William Merric Boyd In His Studio By Pegg Clarke | The McCorry Collection

Born June 1888, in St Kilda, he lived in Sandringham.

He was educated at Haileybury College until he was 8, and the family moved to Yarra Glen, where he attended Dookie Agricultural College.

William threw his first pot in 1908 at the Archibald McNair’s Burnley Pottery, and later, in 1911, William established a studio with kilns in Murrumbeena.

He studied under Bernard Hall and Fredrick McCubbin at the National Gallery School, learning ceramics then eventually sculpture but settled for pottery as his medium, holding his first exhibition of stoneware in 1912.

William married Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Gough. Also, a student at the National Gallery School.

He worked for Hans Fyansch of the Australian Porcelain Works until 1917, when he enlisted into the Australian Flying Corps.

Before returning to Australia in 1919, he undertook training on pottery techniques for six months at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons and studied a diploma under Dr. Mellor and kiln construction under Mr. S. T. Wilson. 

William created some of his best works in the 1920-30s, and his wife decorated his pottery often, using Australian flora and fauna as decorative motifs.

Boyd worked commercially and provided for his family, raising painters Arthur, David, sculptor Guy and their two daughters Lucy and Mary.

William Merric Boyd died in 1959, and 6 months later, his wife Doris, William was known as the Father of Australian Art Pottery, leaving his mark on Australian art.

Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Gough

Born November 1888, Doris was the youngest of six children. 

Her mother was a buoyant spirited person with radical politics and Christian science-faith, contrasted with her father, who is very Conservative.

As a result, Doris grew up in an unusual household. 

Doris, like William, studied under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin at the National Gallery school, meeting William Boyd, a fellow student and potter.

She married William in 1915, and I together raised five children Lucy, Arthur (painter, ceramics), Guy (pottery, sculpture), David (pottery, painting) and Mary.

Doris decorated many of Williams works between 1920-1930. 

Most of these pieces were for domestic use and featured Australian flora and fauna.

Doris’s decoration was different to Williams and can be recognised on his pottery as she painted landscape scenes that were more impressionistic and delicate than Williams.

She also sketched and regularly painted in the local areas and further afield, such as the Mornington Peninsula.

She died in June 1960, nine months after William’s death.

Doris and William always encouraged their children to explore and practice art, believing it to be a form of normal and everyday expression.

Theodore Penleigh Boyd

Theodore Penleigh Boyd self portrait | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Born in Penleigh House, 1890, Theodore learnt his artistic training from his parents (Arthur & Emma Boyd) & the National Gallery Art School.

Theodore, exhibiting for the first time at 18 at the Victorian artist’s society and exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London at age 21.

He also came second in the Australian Federal Government’s competition for a painting of the new nation’s capital (Canberra), winning the Wynne Prize in 1914.

Meeting his future wife, Edith Susan Gerard Anderson, in Paris in 1912. 

She was a skilled artist and a model for some of E. Phillips Fox artworks, most notably in his painting in 1912 “Nasturtiums”. 

Both Theodore and Susan returned to Australia in 1913, having their first child in spring 1913, who passed away two weeks later.

In 1914, Theodore’s painting career flourishing, he purchased a block of land near Warrandyte, building a family home and a studio “The Robbins”, having their second child John á Beckett Boyd, in 1915.

Like his brothers, Theodore enlisted in WW1.

Joining the AIF, and was sent to France, where he was gassed at Ypres in 1917. 

He created many drawings of life in the trenches during this time, and he was repatriated to Australia in March 1918. 

He also drew cartoons for the Bulletin in 1918-19.

Theodore’s second son was born in January 1918. Theodore, paining prolifically for the rest of his life. However, his time in the army left permanent psychological scars.

Moving to Sydney, he was enlisted by Sydney George Ure Smith as one of the organisers of a major exhibition of contemporary European artworks taking his family to England to pick up the paintings but returned without them in June 1923.

Disillusioned possible from his involvement in the exhibition sold some of his better artworks and destroyed many of his lesser works.

During this time, he had an open affair with Minna Schuler. Before Edith and the children returned home, Theodore brought “The Robbins” in Melbourne and a new car.

On their return, they quarrelled almost immediately. 

And in November, Theodore drove to Sydney for unknown reasons and lost control near warrigal, overturning the car, killing him shortly after the crash.

Fortunately, with the sale of his artworks, repaired car, “The Robins”, and an allowance from Theodore’s father, his wife and his two sons were supported, without the need for them to work even during the great depression.

Martin à Beckett Boyd

Born in 1893 in Switzerland, the youngest son of Arthur & Emma Boyd when they were travelling through Europe, Martin regarding his “casual birthplace as the reason for his inability to feel completely at home anywhere”.

Living in Sandringham until he was 13 when they moved to Yarra Glen, having a love for books and writing at an early age, he remembers in Yarra Glen going to the Yarra river to swim in summer with the cold eels that used to bite like snakes but made good eating later.

Studying at Trinity Grammar School and through his headmaster’s example, he considered becoming a clergyman.

Finishing school in 1912, Martin is undecided on where to take his life. 

He studied for a religious vocation at St John’s College. Not seeing out the year started a lifelong unresolved investigation of the place of religious devotion in his life.

At the start of WW1, Martin felt no pressure to enlist until he heard of some of his contemporaries from Trinity Grammar had died in Gallipoli and on the advice of his family, he travelled to England and in 1916 took a position as a commissioned officer in the Royal East Kent Regiment.

After fighting in the trenches of France for several months in 1916-17.

Martin requested a transfer and was accepted into the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and remained there until the end of the war.

After returning to Australia after WW1, he felt a disparity between himself and his friends since he joined the British Army, and his experiences were different from that of his friends.

And in 1921, he moved to England doing some newspaper work travelling often and didn’t stay long at any place surviving on one hundred pounds a year provided to by his family.

Writing his first novel in 1925, he found some stability between 1925-49, where he published ten books during that time. 

During the second world war, Martin questioned following Britain into WW2, believing Australia should look to America and the Mediterranean countries to replace the ties with Britain, feeling a great sense of injustice bombing German city’s with innocent civilians.

After the death of his father, his inheritance allowed him to live life as he saw fit.

Delaying his return to Australia as not to in his mind come home a failure, eventually coming home in 1948 after his success with his novel Lucinda Brayford.

Still, it was short-lived due to him being ignored by the Australian literary establishment, out of touch with his younger relatives and disappointed with his dream of his grandfathers home, “The Grange”. 

So he returned to England in 1951, then moved to Rome in 1957.

Martin, writing several novels and his second autobiography while in Rome.

He was surprised when he received a letter from The Commonwealth Literary Fund.

Who had awarded him $1000 and a life pension of $30 a week “out of regard for the part you have played in the development of the literature of Australia” his friends in Australia, hearing his financial difficulty’s and medical problems and encouraged others to do something about it.

Battling illness for the last decade of his life, he died from cancer in 1972, days after being received by the catholic church.

He was seen as a loyal man, generous and charming but never found a lasting romantic relationship of his own. 

You can find Martin’s Awards and list of novels here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Boyd#Critical_reception_and_recognition

Helen A’beckett Read

I was unable to find any information about Helen. 

Apart from she was born in 1903 and married Neville Robinson Reed. She was mother to Gayner Lucinda READ, Painter, Susan READ, Andrew READ and Prudence READ & that she passed away in 1999.

Second Generation

So far, we have only covered the first generation of entrepreneurial and Artistic Boyds.

That was not the end of the Boyd dynasty, giving rise to the famous artist Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, Guy Boyd, Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd and many others in their extended family.

We will talk a bit more about some of the critical members of the family in Arthur, Guy and Robin Boyd.

Who changed Australian art and architecture landscape in the 20th century from a leading painter to one of the most forefront proponents for the international modern movement in Australian architecture.

Lucy Boyd Beck

Born in August 1916 in Murrumbeena, Lucy was the first child of William and Doris Boyd, followed by her brother, Arthur in 1920, Guy in 1923, David in 1924 and Mary in 1926.

Lucy attended Saint Peters school in Carnegie and then Murrumbeena state school.

She was encouraged at a very young age by her parents to express herself through art.

She went to Melbourne high school for two years, passing her intermediate level and was academically very capable but left school to help support her mother.

After moving away to Avenel for work and then returning back to Murrumbeena, she met Hatton Beck, whom she later would marry. 

Hatton was working and learning from her father.

Lucy and Hatton had their first child, Laurence, in 1940 and Robert in 1942.

Hatton was working at numerous potteries after the war in 1947. 

And he secured a teaching position at the Brisbane Technical College, moving to Brisbane later that year, having their third son, Paul, in 1948.

After thirteen years in Brisbane, Lucy and Hatton returned to Murrumbeena in 1961.

While in Murrumbeena, they set up their pottery school teaching pottery for two years, moving to Boronia in 1963.

In 1966 Lucy and Hatton left Melbourne for England. Hatton worked at the National Gallery there. Lucy and Robert established a pottery at Wandsworth Common, moving back to Melbourne in 1972, living in Arthur Boyd’s Beaumaris house. 

Hatton’s last working period was at Bayswater, Hatton working into his late 80s on his ceramic tiles.

Hatton died in November 1994 at age 93. 

Lucy moved to Mordialloc on Port Phillip Bay, surrounded by the paintings and pottery Lucy and her family created over the decades. She died in April 2009.

Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd

Born in January 1919, Robin spent his early childhood at “The Robins” in Warrandyte, the family home and studio of Theodore Boyd (his father).

He stayed there until 1922 when Theodore sold “The Robbins” and moved the family to Sydney, where he was enlisted to help organise an exhibition of contemporary European paintings.

With his family, Robin travelled to England in 1922, but his father returned to Sydney without them. 

Robin, returning with his family to Sydney in November 1923.

After his father’s tragic accident Edith (his mother) moved to a rented premises in upper-class Toorak.

Robin had his first two years of schooling at Glamorgan Preparatory School, then moved to East Malvern and was enrolled in Lloyd Street State School, reading widely and an avid fan of jazz and films.

In 1930 he moved to the Malvern Church of England Grammar School, completing his schooling there.

Robin also designed his first architectural commission as a teenager designing his cousins Arthur Boyd’s studio, which he built in Arthur’s parent’s backyard.

Choosing architecture early, his mother arranged for him to be articled by leading Melbourne architect Kingsley Henderson. 

He also studied at night at the Melbourne Technical College and the Melbourne University Architectural Atelier.

Designed By Robyn Boyd | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Serving in Papua New Guinea during WW2, he resumed his career in architecture in 1945.

He was becoming first noticed after he promoted inexpensive functional partially prefabricated homes incorporating modern aesthetics.

Although most of his architecture was primarily residential, he did design some larger buildings. 

Including Domain Park residential tower, the John Batman motor inn and the Australian headquarters of the Winston Churchill memorial trust in Canberra, which he was working on at the time of his death.

Image Source Wikipedia

He was the first director of the Royal Institute of architects small homes service and was also an editor of this service for the age newspaper for which he wrote weekly articles.

The small home service provided homes with modern architectural aesthetics, functional planning, were inexpensive and sold to the public for a small fee. Through this work, Boyd became a household name in Victoria.

Granted an RVIA Robert and Ada Haddon travelling scholarship, it gave him his first opportunity to travel through Europe, greatly influencing his later works.

Forming a partnership with Frederick Romberg and Roy Grounds in 1953, their influential Melbourne firm was a significant force in Australian architecture. 

Through the 1950s-60s, Boyd develops several influential houses in the regional style, including ‘Canberra house” for Australian historian Manning Clark in 1952.

Robin was a prolific architect with over 200 designs to his credit in a relatively short career. He was the sole designer of most of these projects, but several early ones were jointly designed with his unofficial partners Kevin P fridge and Frank Bell.

And some who were jointly designed with his partners Roy Ground and Frederick Romberg.

Although Roy grounds left the practice bitterly in 1962, Romberg and Boyd continued the partnership until Robin’s death.

Robin was a fierce supporter of modernism in his Australian ugliness with what Robin considered visual pollution and vulgar featurism; he also was a lecturer in architecture at the University of Melbourne and a teaching position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

Robin, writing nine books in total, including his ground-breaking book “Australia’s Home” and his critical book “The Australian Ugliness”.

He also presented the Boyer Lectures, which were broadcast nationally on ABC radio. 

He delivered various lectures on topics and issues relating to Australia architecture, design and cultural values of the time in the series titled Artificial Australia.

In 1969 Robin was awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architects gold medal.

And in January 1971, he was awarded Commander of the order of the British Empire.

And in April-May, travelling overseas to be one of five judges for an international competition for a new building to provide accommodation for members of the British parliament. 

He contracted an infection while in England and, on his return to Australia, struggled with his illness until he died in October 1971, aged 52.

A non-profit Robin Boyd foundation was established in 2005 by a group including the Boyd family, the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian chapter, facilities at the University of Melbourne, Deakin University and RMIT University. It was initially patron by the hon Gough Whitlam.

Robin was certainly a force in Australian Architecture changing many lives with his innovative & functional designs for people who would normally not have access to such design.

Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd

Arthur was born in July 1920 in Murrumbeena, son of William & Doris Boyd.

Leaving school aged 14, he briefly attended night classes at the National Gallery School. 

Arthur, later living with his grandfather Arthur Merric Boyd Snr, a significant guide in forming his artistic talent.

When Arthur was 20, he was conscripted into the military in May 1941, eventually working as a cartographer predominantly in Bendigo.

After the war, Arthur set up a workshop in Murrumbeena with John Perceval and Peter Herbst turning his hands to pottery and later ceramic painting and sculpture named AMB (Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery) in honour of his grandfather.

Olympic Pylon By Arthur Boyd | The Boyd Family | The McCorry

Although he knew and was close with Albert Tucker, Joy Hester, Sidney Nolan and Art patrons John and Sunday Reed in the Heide Modernist Circle.

He was not overtly beckoned to be involved because his position in the Boyd family given him identity in the art world.

Arthur was also a part of the group “Angry Penguins”.

In the late 1940s and early ’50s, Arthur travelled to the Victoria Wimmera country and Central Australia.

His work turned more towards landscape paintings during that time, creating some of his best-known works. He also created in 1956 the ceramic sculpture “Olympic pylon”, which was installed in the forecourt of the Melbourne Olympic swimming pool.

In Europe, Arthur, including Vince Biennale and Arthur Streeton, represented Australia in 1958 where his “Bride” series was well received.

Arthur was also an affiliate of the Antipodeans, a group of painters founded in 1959 promoting figurative art when abstract art and sculpture was dominant, the group exhibiting in the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

Arthur’s family also moved to London in 1959, where he started receiving commissions for ballet and Opera set designs. 

Also, during this time, he took up etching and return to ceramic painting, which later resulted in creating the Nebuchadnezzar series as a response to the Vietnam war.

Arthur, being appointed an officer of the order of the British Empire in January 1970 for his services to art. And a creative arts fellowship from the Australian National University board, Arthur and his family returned to Australia in 1971 as one of Australia’s most highly regarded artists, donating thousands of works in 1975 to the National Gallery of Australia.

“Eugene Onegin” Fine Art Lithograph Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Arthur and Yvonne purchased a property and settled permanently at Bundanon on the Shoalhaven River in 1978. 

During this time, his landscape artworks were based on the Shoalhaven River. 

At first, Arthur was a little overwhelmed as the area was very rugged and wild, different from what he was used to painting.

And in January 1979, Arthur was appointed an officer of the order of Australia for his services to visual art.

In the 1980s, he explored the construction of Australia’s identity in the lead up to the bicentennial of the first fleet’s arrival.

The paintings were made with aggressive colouring and graphic imagery, drawing from the archetypes of Australian military history to suggest the futility of war. 

He also worked prolifically in ceramics and designing sets for theatre and illustrations for poems of Australian poet Peter Porter.

Image “Eugene Onegin” Fine Art Lithograph By Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd

Also donated a villa in Tuscany to the Australian Council for an artist in residence program and was commissioned to design a tapestry based on the artwork “Untitled” (Shoalhaven landscape) for the great hall for the new Parliament House in 1984 at Canberra, which was one of the largest tapestries in the world. 

Arthur, however, could not find the strength to fight for the retention of the lower rectangle, which was cut off by the building constraints.

The Victorian tapestry workshop produced the tapestry in Melbourne. 

During this time, he produced 16 canvases for the foyer of the Victorian Art Centre that same year.

Arthur was appointed a companion of the order of Australia in June 1992.

In 1993 a major retrospective of Arthur’s work was exhibited at the art gallery of New South Wales. 

And in 1997, for the first time, Arthur exhibited together with six members of his extended family, exhibiting with brothers David and Guy, son Jamie, and nieces Lenore and Tessa Perceval, the exhibition comprised of 80 paintings and 40 bronze sculptures.

The Boyd family also gifted the 405-hectare Bundanon property to Australia in 1993.

In 1999 age 78, Arthur passed away, survived by his wife Yvonne, their son Jamie, and daughters Polly and Lucy.

Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd

Australian Native Floral Spray By Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Born June 1923 in Murrumbeena, Martin was the third child of Merric Boyd and his wife, Doris Lucy Elanore Bloomfield.

After the great depression and followed by a disastrous fire at his father’s pottery where he was an assistant, he found work as a Jewellers apprentice in 1937 than in several jobs after that.

A committed pacifist during the second world war, he was deployed as a draughtsman in Melbourne.

And then in Bendigo before conflicts with his superiors, where he was then posted interstate in Ingleburn. After World War II, Guy studied sculpture with Lyndon Dadswell at East Sydney Technical College.

Guy then established both Martin Boyd pottery and later Guy Boyd pottery, mass-producing a wide range of Modernist objects from housewares to decorative pieces, which enjoyed great commercial success. The iconic Australian imagery, particularly fauna and indigenous motifs, frequently featured in their pottery also stepping into the “atomic age” aesthetics of the 1950s and early 60s.

Moving away from his commercial work, Guy transitioned into a full-time sculptor in 1965 when he held his first solo show at Australian galleries in Melbourne.

Some of his commissions are in Melbourne, Sydney International airports, Caulfield Townhall, The Commonwealth Bank, and he has pieces in the National Gallery of Victoria.

Exhibiting all over the world, he won a Churchill Fellowship in 1968 to study overseas.

Later that year, Guy and Phyllis migrated to Canada with their four younger children, settling in Toronto in 1976, but returning to Australia five years later.

Guy Boyd was considered one of Australia’s most significant post-war figurative sculptors experimenting with many techniques.

He is noted for his ability to represent the female nude in fluid forms and his activism in environmental and other causes, including protesting against the damning of the Franklin River and the innocence of Linda Chamberlain.

Guy Boyd died in April 1988 from coronary atherosclerosis, survived by his wife and their five daughters and two sons.

David Fielding Gough Boyd

David Boyd The Apple Tree | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

Born in August 1924, the fourth child of Potters William and Doris Boyd with artistic siblings Arthur, Guy, Lucy and Mary.

Spending his childhood at the family farm open country in Murrumbeena, he entered the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne at age 17.

However, he was enlisted into the army after one year at the Conservatorium. 

David, although refusing to fight in World War II, even undergoing hunger strikes to avoid bearing arms.

After his return, he studied art at the National Gallery school on an ex-servicemen’s grant, and in 1946, he worked with his brother Guy Boyd at Martin Boyd pottery in Sydney. 

He married Hermia Sappho Lloyd-Jones, a sculptor student at East technical College, in 1949.

David also established a pottery studio in the early 1950s in London and continued working mainly in pottery through to the mid-1960s.

In the 1950s, David and his wife became widely known as Australia’s leading Potters through their success in London, introducing new glazing techniques and potters wheel usage in shaping sculptural figures. 

Their partnership in art and life continued until she died in 2000.

David-Boyd-Beach-Towel | The Boyd Family | The McCorry Collection

David’s career in painting began in 1957 when he created a series of symbolic paintings on Australian explorers that had much controversy at the time. It focused on the tragic history of the Aboriginal Tasmanians.

He joined the Antipodean’s group in the 1950s and discovered a technique in 1966 that he named Sfumato, after da Vinci’s usage of the word to describe graduations of smoky tones in paintings. 

He achieved this effect by using new techniques involving a candle flame.

Moving to Rome in 1961 with his family and later London where David was invited to hold a retrospective of his paintings at the Commonwealth Institute of Art in 1969, They also spent several years in Spain and the south of France creating art before returning to Australia in 1975 permanently.

David Boyd was an artist-in-residence at the School of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, from 1993–1996. He passed away on the 10th of November 2011, Surrounded By Three Generations Of His Family. 

Mary Boyd

Born 1926 to Potters William and Doris Boyd in Murrumbeena, Mary learnt pottery at a very young age and was also a subject of numerous paintings by Arthur Boyd and a model for her brother Guy Boyd and later in John Perceval’s densely populated paintings. 

She married John Perceval, meeting him through her brother Arthur and later Sydney Nolan in 1978, having four children with John Perceval, Matthew (b.1945), Tessa (b.1947), Celia (b.1949) and Alice (b.1957)

After Sydney Nolan’s death, Mary dedicated the rest of her life to preserving his legacy.

In Closing

Hopefully, now you know more about the influential family that shaped Australia’s artistic picture.

Through writing this blog, I know that I certainly have realised how wide-reaching and well-travelled this family was and how many generations of artists, sculptures and writers that were in this family, some of whom continue on today.

It is clear that they were talented, multi-skilled individuals, each exploring new ideas and skills.

The influence to date of these artists continues years after their deaths, and I’m sure it will only continue to grow as the year’s progress, many of the Boyd’s I have discussed will be remembered for their innovative and boundary-breaking style and techniques they used.

And perhaps you can visit some of the places where their art is on display or read some of there literature and get a better understanding of the legacy they left behind.

We also have a biography on David Boyd here, along with some paintings of his also that we have, and we also have some more biography information on Emma Minnie Boyd here along with artwork by her.

If you want to add any information to this blog, send us an email on our contact form and mention the Boyd Family post.

I hope you enjoyed reading the article and learning a little about this diverse family.

Please leave your comments; I’d love to know what you think.

Further Reading:

The Start Arthur Merric & Emma Minnie Boyd

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-arthur-merric-5323

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Minnie_Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Merric_Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_School#Influences_and_style

https://www.geni.com/people/Helen-Read/6000000046768392274

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/emma-minnie-boyd/biography/

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/senior-arthur-merric-boyd/biography/

William Merric Boyd

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-william-merric-5608/text8993

https://web.archive.org/web/20160530105630/http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s983246.htm (William Merric  Boyd’s Bio ABC archived)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merric_Boyd

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/merric-boyd/biography/

Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Boyd

https://web.archive.org/web/20130425031042/http://www.members.optushome.com.au/scai1/dorisboyd/

Theodore Penleigh Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penleigh_Boyd

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-theodore-penleigh-5609

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/311012

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/penleigh-boyd/biography/

Martin A Beckett Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Boyd

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-martin-a-beckett-9559

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Boyd

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/boydm/boydm.html

https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A4076

Helen A’beckett Read

https://www.geni.com/people/Helen-Read/6000000046768392274

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyd_family

Lucy Boyd Beck

http://www.lucyboydbeck.com

https://www.beaumarisartgroup.org.au/l-artist/lucy-boyd-beck-artist.html

Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Boyd_(architect)

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/800250

https://web.archive.org/web/20170312005011/http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s983258.htm  (Robin Boyd’s Bio ABC archived)

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-robin-gerard-9560

Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Boyd

https://artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Art%20Gallery/Education%20resources/TSC12419_Arthur_Boyd_Learning_rRsource.pdf

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/boyd-arthur/

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/arthur-boyd/biography/

https://suffolkartists.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=83

Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Boyd_(sculptor)

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boyd-guy-martin-a-beckett-12240

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/guy-boyd/biography/

David Fielding Gough Boyd

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boyd_(artist)

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/david-boyd/biography/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/patriarch-and-link-with-generations-of-artistic-family-20111211-1opl4.html

Mary Boyd

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/mary-boyd/biography/

https://nga.gov.au/obituaries/marynolan.cfm

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/lady-mary-nolan-widow-of-painter-sidney-nolan-dies-in-wales-20160418-go94ki.html

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