| | 
| 1920 |
July
24: Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd born at Open Country, 8 Wahroonga
Crescent, Murrumbeena, now a suburb of Melbourne, the second child of
Merric (1888 – 1959) and Doris (1888 – 1960) Boyd nee Gough, potters
and painters. The house, pulled down during the late 1960’s, had been
built by Merric Boyd in 1908 in an old orchard. Grows up in unorthodox
Christian Scientist family where all forms of creative endeavour are
strongly encouraged. Every evening, the family gathers in the Brown
Room for Bible readings by both parents as well as regular ‘drawing
bees’. |
| 1923 |
Birth of his brother Guy. |
| 1924 |
Attends a small Church of England school at Murrumbeena with his sister, Lucy (born 1916). Birth of his brother David. |
| 1925 –30 |
Moves
to Murrumbeena State School. During his school years, joins Cub Pack
and the Boy Scouts through a family friend, Max Nicholson, later
lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne. Nicholson owns a
‘sort of black spaniel’ which comes to live at Murrumbeena and is
eventually incorporated into numerous artworks. Spends holidays at
Sandringham, Melbourne (in a house later acquired by Guy and Phyllis
Boyd), where his grandmother, artist Emma Minnie Boyd nee a’ Beckett
(1858 – 1936), reads stories and lessons from the family Bible. From an
early age, goes off alone on landscape painting expeditions. Builds a
kiln in which he fires the small clay animals that he models. |
| 1926 |
Birth of his sister Mary. |
| 1929 |
Death
of his maternal grandmother, newspaper owner and writer, Evelyn Gough,
who had built a house (The Bungalow) at Open Country and moved there
during the First World War while Merric Boyd was away on active
service. The Bungalow is later used as a studio by Merric, John
Perceval and Boyd himself at various times. |
| 1931 |
Receives 1st Award for Art at Murrumbeena State School. |
more ...
| 1932 |
Receives
1st Award for Drawing at Murrumbeena State School. About this time,
decided he wants to be an actor, particularly a comedian. The following
year, goes with his mother to the studio of F. T. Films in St Kilda,
Melbourne, to try for a job but is unsuccessful. Also makes films with
his cousins, Pat and Robin Boyd. |
| 1933 |
Receives 1st Award for Art at Murrumbeena State School. |
| 1934 |
Receives
Special 1st Award for Drawing at Murrumbeena State School. Towards end
of this year, meets artist Wilfred McCulloch (brother of painter,
critic and writer, Alan McCulloch) on the beach at Wilson’s Promontory
and is taken home to meet the family. Paints near Cape Schanck with
both Wilfred and Alan at a camp pioneered by Harold Beatty. |
| 1935 |
After
leaving school, works in his uncle Ralph Madder’s paint factory in
Fitzroy where he earns twelve and sixpence, then fifteen shillings a
week. Introduces Madder’s daughter, Patricia, to their cousin Robin
Boyd (the future Melbourne architect) at Murrumbeena; Patricia and
Robin subsequently marry. Attends night classes at National Gallery Art
School on Melbourne but leaves, feeling frustrated, after about six
months; only other formal study etching lessons with Jessie Traill at
her Flinders Street studio several years later and lithography at
Melbourne Technical College on the early 1950’s. Max Nicholson visits
the family regularly to read aloud in the Brown Room and discuss
literature; Doris Boyd reads aloud as well. Boyd and Wilfred McCulloch
become acquainted with the work of Van Gogh through a postcard owned by
Robin Boyd, or seen in the Primrose Pottery Shop, at Gino Nibbi’s
Leonardo Bok Shop, both in Melbourne. He also particularly remembers
seeing a reproduction of The tempest by Oskar Kokoschka about this
time. Takes his paints on the cable train and goes down to the Yarra
River every Saturday afternoon; also paints regularly with his cousin
Pat Boyd who teaches him to use a palette knife. |
| 1936 |
September:
death of Emma Minnie Boyd. His grandfather, painter Arthur Merric Boyd
sells the Sandringham house and moves to family cottage at Rosebud on
the Mornington Peninsula, inviting Boyd to live with him. Boyd stays
there for about three years, receiving tuition and painting landscapes
and coastal views, as well as numerous portraits (mainly of family
members) and self-portraits. Given an account by his grandfather at
Norman’s, an artist’s paint shop in Melbourne. Returns at intervals to
Ralph Madder’s factory for agricultural machinery in the Sunshine
Harvesters and H. B. Massey Harris building in Bourke Street, near
Spencer Street Station, for temporary jobs. Builds a raft, which he
later transforms into a sailing dinghy, during this period and spends
many hours at sea. |
| 1937 |
Begins
to sell paintings to Sedon Galleries in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne,
above Robertson and Mullens bookshop. Holds his first solo exhibition
(oil paintings) at Westminster Gallery, Little Collins Street,
Melbourne, run by Mr Fitzgerald; some works sell for as much as eight
guineas. From about this time, has the use of his grandfather’s car, a
1929 Dodge Tourer, which gives him more mobility. Receives money from
his grandfather to build studio in the garden of Open Country, designed
by Robin Boyd who has begun to study architecture. (‘This design was
very original and modern. I built the studio with my own hands’)
December/January: shows paintings at an exhibition held at his uncle
Penleigh Boyd’s Studio at Warrrandyte. |
| 1938 |
Through
Nicholson meets recently arrived Polish refugee painter, Josl Bergner,
and hears about conditions in Germany under National Socialism. Bergner
has already seen Boyd’s paintings in the window of the Westminster
Gallery where they are displayed by Fitzgerald to attract passers-by.
Continues to execute landscapes and portraits but also produces a
series of more violent paintings in response to his reading of
Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. |
| 1939 |
January
– February: painting trip with brother David around north-eastern
Victoria, through the Alps and to Jamieson, in the Dodge. Trips into
the country with Wilfred McCulloch and Keith Nichol and paints bush
scenes at Launching Place on the Yarra River with artist Jo Sweatman.
Later in the year, his grandfather becomes ill and Boyd takes him back
to Murrumbeena to be looked after to be looked after by Doris Boyd.
Buys ten acres of land at Hastings. Visits the Herald Exhibition of
French and British Contemporary Art in Melbourne and subsequently
paints in Doris Boyd’s bedroom a frieze of horses inspired by Franz
Marc. This replaces an earlier mural by Merric Boyd. |
| 1940 |
July
30: death of Arthur Merric Boyd at Murrumbeena. November: holds first
full scale exhibition at Athenaeum Gallery, Collins Street, Melbourne
with Nichol showing seventy-six works, mainly landscapes (catalogue and
invitation designed by Robin Boyd). Together with Wilfred and Alan
McCulloch, dances a parody of the ballet, Spectre de la Rose in the
Lower Town Hall in aid of the Red Cross; Boyd first glimpsed by Yvonne
Lennie (born 7 August 1920), who is then working with Alan McCulloch at
the Commonwealth Bank. Goes on painting expeditions to various parts of
Victoria with cousins Pat and Robin Boyd. |
| 1941 |
May
12: conscripted into army; joins Light Horse unit which is soon
disbanded. Encouraged by Nichol, applies for a place in the
Cartographic Company, where he meets John Perceval. Originally
stationed at Ballarat; then goes to Balcombe on the Mornington
Peninsula where he spends two months training as a machine gunner.
Attends life drawing classes with artist Nutter Buzacott (who is in the
same army unit) in the Dudley Building, Collins Street, Melbourne.
Perceval and Noel Counihan also attend these classes, run by a
commercial artist’ association, as well as Yvonne Lennie. She
introduces him to Joy Hester and Bert Tucker and John and Sunday Reed;
also forms a close friendship with Sidney Nolan. Later transfers to the
Melbourne Cartographic Unit. The company’s headquarters are in Swanston
Street, opposite the Melbourne Public Library and National Gallery of
Victoria building, where he and Perceval go at lunchtime to study art
books. Briefly sets up studio with Perceval in old stable at South
Yarra. September: holds joint exhibition with Bergner and Counihan at
Rowden White Library, University of Melbourne. (NB: This is the first
and only time he exhibits with Bergner; references to a joint
exhibition of 1939, mentioned in earlier literature, are incorrect). |
| 1942 |
Sent
with Cartographic Company to Bendigo where they camp at an old mining
mansion, Fortuna. Yvonne comes up to Bendigo to be with him. Appalled
by the thought of war, attempts to get out of the army by acting
‘strangely’ (a strategy suggested to him by Tucker) and spends some
time in the Heidelberg Hospital where he undergoes psychiatric
assessment. Later changes his mind and after returning to the
Cartographic Company, begins to travel regularly from Melbourne to
Bendigo, picking up maps; when he comes down from Bendigo, stays
overnight in a warehouse in South Melbourne. Then allowed to ‘live
out’, moves with Yvonne to a flat at 2 Henry Street, Fitzroy (on the
corner of Nicholson Street), above a garage. Later is removed from
Cartographic Company and becomes a transport driver in Melbourne.
Paints infrequently but produces numerous drawings on lithographic
paper ‘supplied’ by the Army. Does a few pictures while in camp at
Bendigo and is hauled up by the officers; one anti-war work
confiscated. August: Perceval discharged from army and goes to live at
Open Country where he and Peter Herbst (later a tutor in philosophy at
University of Melbourne) learn the rudiments of pottery from Merric
Boyd. Perceval first shares Arthur’s studio before building his own
next door. August – September: exhibits with Contemporary Art Society
in Melbourne and Sydney. |
| 1943 |
Through
Tucker, becomes acquainted with Max Doerner’s The Materials of the
Artist and their Use in Painting (first English edition, 1943) and
begins to use ICI chemical paints are obtained from Bligh’s Colourworks
in Melbourne, a firm long patronised by Merric Boyd. Tucker also
demonstrates to him the technique of putting muslin on to thick, heavy
cardboard, again from Doerner; for several years, these supports are
prepared for Boyd by Perceval. Meets Neil Douglas, later author, artist
and conservationist, August – September: exhibits with Contemporary Art
Society on Melbourne. |
| 1944 |
March
25: discharges from army. Still living at 2 Henry Street, Fitzroy but
later moves back to Open Country. June – July: exhibits with
Contemporary Art Society Exhibition in Sydney. November: Mary Boyd
marries Perceval at Open Country and they move into The Bungalow. Buys
Hatton Beck’s pottery in Neerim Road, Murrumbeena with Perceval and
Herbst (Beck had gone into airforce) and forms the Arthur Merric Boyd
Pottery Workshop. Neil Douglas joins pottery as decorator as does Tim
Burstall (who arrives the next year), Betty Burstall, Dorothy Meyer,
Martin Smith (who later becomes Boyd’s framer), John Yule and Joy
Murphy. Tucker and Charles Blackman reputedly give occasional help as
fettlers. Initially, the pottery producers utilitarian wares as part of
the war effort. |
| 1945 |
March
6: marries Yvonne at The Manse, 109 Willesden Road, Oakleigh,
Melbourne. Begins work on series of biblical paintings, 1945 – 47.
Early purchasers include Gerd Buchdahl (later at Cambridge University),
Franz Philipp and Allan McBriar, all staff members at University of
Melbourne. Also completes a number of portraits of friends. August –
November: exhibits with Contemporary Art Society in Melbourne and
Sydney. |
| 1946 |
Herbst
discharged from army and returns to Murrumbeena; does some throwing and
designing, but mainly concerned with administration. Beginning of the
second phase of ceramics, biblical subjects. July: holds joint
exhibition with Nolan and Tucker at Rowden White Library; University of
Melbourne, organised by Max Nicholson. November: birth of first child,
Polly. Exhibits with Contemporary Art Society in Sydney. |
| 1947 |
Completes
cycle of religious paintings. Paints backdrop for Peter O’Shaughnessy’s
production of Love’s Labour’s Lost at Arrow Theatre, Middle Park,
Melbourne. Tucker and Nolan leave Melbourne; Perceval stops painting
temporarily and concentrates on pottery |
| 1948 |
Boyd
executes a number of Berwick landscapes; visits the far south coast of
New South Wales; and over the summer of 1948 – 49, he and his family
spend painting holiday with poet Jack Stephenson, at Horsham. August:
Boyd’s uncle, novelist Martin Boyd, returns to Australia and acquires
from a cousin the former a’ Beckett family home known as The Grange at
Harkaway near Berwick in Victoria. Situated on the brow of a hill, it
has a superb view over open country and the distant bay. Martin Boyd
sets out to restore building and commissions his nephew to paint murals
around the four walls of the dining room. This is Boyd’s first
commission. Work on the murals, which are painted with casein tempera
mixed with powder colour, begins in late 1948. Each composition has a
biblical theme, the major one on the west wall depicting the Return of
the Prodigal Son. Initially commutes from Murrumbeena but then moves
with Yvonne and Polly into a house. November: birth of son, Jamie at
The Grange. |
| 1949 |
Returns
to Open Country after completing murals at The Grange. Painting trips
to north-west Victoria, the Grampians and the Wimmera. Begins work on
ceramic (tile) paintings, devising his own techniques. Geoffrey Dutton
shows Boyd paintings to English art historian, T. S. R. Boase, in
Oxford. |
| 1950 |
Over
next few years, travels through Wimmera District and begins work on
series of related paintings. Herbst departs for Oxford and his
partnership in pottery is taken over by Neil Douglas. September: first
retrospective exhibition at David Jones’ Art Gallery, Sydney. Mid-day,
the Wimmera (painting, c. 1950) purchased by Art Gallery of New South
Wales; Irrigation lake, Wimmera (painting, c. 1950) purchased by
National Gallery of Victoria. |
| 1951 |
Takes
train known as The Ghan from Port Augusta to Alice Springs, a journey
of three days; Lake Eyre, seen en route, has water for the first time
in years. Visits Rex Batterbee in Alice Springs, then travels by old
army jeep to Arltunga, a former mining area, where he sleeps out on the
ground. Does numerous drawings from the train as well as the jeep;
these form the basis of his later Bride series. Martin Boyd sells The
Grange and leaves Australia. From this year has solo exhibitions in
commercial galleries almost annually, often several in one year. |
| 1952 |
Landscape,
Grampians (painting, 1950) purchased by National Gallery of Victoria;
Irrigation Lake, Horsham (painting, 1950) purchased by Art Gallery of
South Australia. |
| 1953 |
Designs
programme cover for production of The Old Man of the Mountains by
Norman Nicholson, at Ormond College and Women’s College, Melbourne.
July – August: included in Twelve Australian Artists at New Burlington
Galleries, London. The Whale putting Jonah in its mouth (ceramic
painting 1950) acquired by National Gallery of Victoria 1953 – 54:
produces a small number of tempera landscapes, based on his central
Australian sketchbooks. |
| 1954 |
Sells
land at Hastings. December: receives commission for ceramic pylon (or
‘Totem Pole’) at Olympic Swimming Pool, Melbourne. The waterhole with
birds, near Alice Springs (painting, c. 1954) acquired by National
Gallery of Victoria; Cyanide tanks, Bendigo (painting, c. 1952)
acquired by Art Gallery of South Australia; Creek near Rosebud
(painting, 1937) acquired by Art Gallery of Western Australia; Saul and
David (ceramic sculpture, 1954) purchased by National Gallery of
Victoria. |
| 1955 |
Leaves
Murrumbeena early in the year and moves to house (formerly owned by
artist Sasha Halpern) at 26 Surf Avenue, Beaumaris, a beach suburb on
Port Phillip Bay, where he and his family live until 1959. Visitors to
Surf Avenue include Clifton Pugh and family, Robert Hughes, Robert
Dickerson, John and Helen Brack, and Georges Mora and family; Charles
and Barbara Blackman often come at weekends. Engaged in abstract work
in small colour cubes for the mural Crucifixion in St John’s Yallourn,
Gippsland, later transferred to a new church in Morwell. Also produces
other pure abstract paintings during this period. Executes stage
designs for Love’s Labour’s Lost produced by O’Shaughnessy at Arrow
Theatre, Middle Park, Melbourne. Invited to join Decorations
Sub-Committee (under Kenneth Myer), of the Olympic Civic Committee, to
organise the decorations of the City of Melbourne; Robin Boyd also a
member. |
| 1956 |
Continues
work on ceramic pylon with Yvonne and sculptor Robert Langley: loses
£400, due to soaring costs, by completion of commission. Installation
of sculpture at Olympic Swimming Pool, Melbourne. Painting trips to
upper reaches of the Goulburn River between Woods Point and Jamieson,
to Gippsland and to their parts of Victoria, which result in large
output of landscapes. Also visits Sorrento with Fred Williams and
Perceval. Resumes Aboriginal themes in Love, marriage and death of a
half-caste (Bride) series. Executes stage designs for King Lear,
produced by O’Shaughnessy in Melbourne. Opening of Australian Galleries
under directorship pf Anne and Thomas (Tam) Purves. T. S. R. Boase, now
President of Magdalen College, Oxford, visits Australia and sees
ceramic sculptures at Surf Avenue. |
| 1957 |
Continues work on Bride series; also paints landscapes on the Mornington Peninsula. |
| 1958 |
Selected
to be co-representative with the late Sir Arthur Streeton at Venice
Biennale eight loan works shown, all landscapes). Cessation of Arthur
Merric Boyd Pottery as a partnership. One of twelve artists invited by
Kelvinator to decorate refrigerators which are exhibited in Sydney,
Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide (Art in Everyday Life); chooses as his
subject a version of Leda and the swan. Shearers playing for a bride
(painting, 1957) presented to National Gallery of Victoria by Tristram
Buesst. May 1: birth of second daughter Lucy Ellen Gough. April – May:
first exhibition of Bride paintings at Australian Galleries, Melbourne;
later shown in Adelaide and Sydney. August: enters five works (all
Bride series) in Helena Rubinstein Travelling Art Scholarship at Art
Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. 1958 – 59: painting trip to Barmah
and Echuca Forests with Fred Williams. |
| 1959 |
Eight-minute
film, The Black Man and His Bride (also known as Love, Marriage and
Death of a Half-caste), made by Patrick Ryan and Tim Burstall. Signs
Antipodean Manifesto together with Blackman, Brack, Dickerson,
Perceval, Pugh, Bernard Smith and David Boyd. September 9: death of
Merric Boyd at Murrumbeena. September – October: enters five works (all
Bride series) in Helena Rubinstein Travelling Art Scholarship at Art
Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Tam Purves of Australian Galleries
guarantees him sum of twenty pounds a week for six months if he
supplies pictures; takes out mortgage on house for fare to England.
November: travels to London with his family aboard Iberia, bearing
introductions from Eric Westbrook, Director of National Gallery of
Victoria and Professor Joseph Burke, University of Melbourne, to Dr
Lilian Sommerville, Director of the British Council and to Sir Kenneth
Clark. Dr Sommerville arranges a meeting with Bryan Robertson, Director
of Whitechapel Art Gallery; also makes early contact with Anton Zwemmer
of Zwemmer Gallery through Bergner. Barry Humphries arrives in London.
Rents a house at 13 Hampstead Lane, Highgate. |
| 1960 |
First
visits to National Gallery London and Louvre in Pairs: sees Picasso
retrospective at Tate Gallery. Goes on extended car journey to Germany,
Austria, Venice and Tuscany; impressed by Simone Martini, Piero della
Francesca, Masaccio and other early Renaissance painters. Further
development of Bride series and ‘nude in landscape’ theme. June 13:
death of Doris Boyd. August: first solo exhibition (mainly Bride
series) in London, at Zwemmer Gallery; favourably reviewed by local
press. |
| 1961 |
Continues
to work on Bride series and ‘nude in landscape; theme. June – July: two
works included in Recent Australian Painting at Whitechapel Gallery,
London. July – August: executes décor and costume designs for Western
Theatre Ballet production of Stravinsky’s ballet Renard presented at
Edinburgh Festival and later at Sadler’s Wells. October – November:
eleven early works included in The Formative Years 1940 – 45 at Museum
of Modern Art of Australia, Melbourne (together with works by Nolan,
Perceval and Tucker). December: visit with Blackman and Humphries to
Goya exhibition at Jacquemart Andre Museum in Paris. |
| 1962 |
Moves
to 42 Well Walk Hampstead for two months (house owned by a friend of
Herbst and next door to house in which Constable had lived), then rents
house at 43 Flask Walk Hampstead. Here he installs a kiln and printing
press and begins first series of etchings. Also starts work on a new
series of ceramic paintings. Visits European galleries with Leonard
French. Meets Walter Neurath, founder of publishing house Thames and
Hudson and publisher T. G. Rosenthal, as well as artist Oskar
Kokoschka, who comments favourably on his work. June – July: major
retrospective exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, London, including
sixty-four of which are executed between 1960 and 1962. Exhibition
arouses an extraordinary amount of interest in both English and
Australian press. |
| 1963 |
Wimmera
landscape commissioned for Viscount Collection in Australia. Executes
stage designs for ballet Elektra with choreography by Robert Helpmann
and music by Malcolm Arnold; first performance (March) at Royal Opera
House, Convent Garden; later at Metropolitan Opera House, New York and,
with new costumes, at Adelaide Festival (March 1966) and other
Australian cities. January – March: included in Australian Painting:
Colonial, Impressionist, Contemporary exhibition at Tate Gallery,
London (also toured Canada, May / June). June: included in British
Painting in the Sixties at Tate Gallery, London. September: awarded H.
C. Richards Memorial Prize for Painting. Included in Australian
Painting Today, Commonwealth Art Advisory Board touring exhibition
shown in Europe. |
| 1964 |
Invited
to produce Romeo and Juliet polyptych for The Shakespeare Exhibition in
Stratford, Edinburgh and London March: retrospective exhibition at
National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (includes many paintings
from Whitechapel retrospective). May: retrospective exhibition at
Museum of Modern Art and Design of Australia, Melbourne (includes many
paintings from retrospectives in London and Adelaide). |
| 1965 |
Buys
13 Hampstead Land, Highgate, and moves there from 51 Flask Walk,
Hampstead. Drawings for ‘Voice and Verse’ made into stage drops for
evening of poetry readings at Royal Court Theatre, London, during
Commonwealth Festival of Art (under auspices of Commonwealth
Institute). Romeo and Juliet polyptych purchased by National Gallery of
Victoria for $5000. |
| 1966 |
Begins
Nebuchadnezzar paintings in response to self-immolations that take
place on Hampstead Health, near his house, to protest against the
Vietnam War. Takes first and only aeroplane flight, to Paris with
Nolan, to see Hommage a Pablo Picasso at Grand Palais. March: designs
new Elektra costumes for Adelaide Festival of Arts. Taner Baybars, A
Trap for the Burglar, with fifteen drawings by Arthur Boyd, London,
Peter Owen, 1966; Sydney: Ure Smith, 1966. |
| 1967 |
Clune
Galleries organises first tapestry, Nebuchadnezzar subject, to be woven
by the Portalegre tapestry works in Portugal. Included in Australian
Painters 1964 – 66 at Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, DC. Franz
Philipp, Arthur Boyd, London: Thames and Hudson. |
| 1968 |
May
– September: returns to Australia (via the Cape) for first time in nine
years. Revisits state galleries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and
travels north along the east coast as far as Cooktown, Queensland, by
car and train. Finds his father’s drawings at Murrumbeena and paints
‘while going back to places like Rosebud and around the sandbanks where
my parents courted’. This experience provides inspiration for Potter
series of paintings. March: Nebuchadnezzar paintings shown at Bonython
Art Gallery, Adelaide (Festival of Arts). T. S. R. Boase, St Francis of
Assisi, with sixteen lithographs by Arthur Boyd, London: Thames and
Hudson, 1968. Nebuchadnezzar caught in a forest 1967 acquired by Art
Gallery of South Australia. |
| 1969 |
Rents
Keeper’s Cottage at Ramsholt, near Woodridge, Suffolk for weekends and
holidays. Bronze casts of ceramic sculptures made by Vittorio &
Fernando, Melbourne. Towards end of year, visits Rembrandt exhibition
in Amsterdam with Tim Burstall and Patrick and Rose Ryan. Retrospective
exhibition at Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh. |
| 1970 |
Paints
landscapes in Suffolk. Visits to Manufactura de Tapeciarias de
Portalegre, Portugal in connection with tapestries made from
Nebuchadnezzar series. Lady and the Unicorn series of etchings and
aquatints, a collaboration between Boyd and Peter Porter, commissioned
by Melbourne gallery owner, Georges Mora. March: winner of 1969
Medallion of the International Cooperation Award Committee, Adelaide.
April – May: Arthur Boyd’s Australia shown at National Gallery of
Victoria (Cook Centenary). July – August: Four Australian Artists:
Boyd, Hessing, Nolan, Owen at Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh.
Portfolio of Lysistrata etchings and aquatints published by The Ganymed
Press, London. |
| 1971 |
Recipient
of $10,000 Britannica Australia award for the arts. March: Lysistrata
mural, a major commission, installed at St Helier Hospital, Carshalton,
UK (Now owned by Art Gallery of New South Wales). October 1: Leaves
England with his family to take up Creative Art Fellowship at
Australian National University, Canberra; exhibition (paintings,
graphics, ceramics and tapestries) at Melville Hall, Australian
National University, organised by the Arts Council of Australia.
December: spends Christmas with his family at Bundanon as guests of
dealer, Frank McDonald, and his mother and sister. Paints first
Shoalhaven landscapes. Peter Stark, Tomorrow’s Ghosts, twenty-eight
poems with fourteen original etchings by Arthur Boyd, Guilford, UK,
Circle Publications, 1971. Arthur Boyd Etchings and Lithographs, with
an introduction by Imre von Maltzahn, London: Lund Humphries. |
| 1972 |
January:
remains at Bundanon for several weeks; back in Canberra paints
life-size nude paintings in the bush as well as landscape sketches.
February: retrospective exhibition at Skinner Galleries, Perth (works
previously shown at QNU Exhibition). Leaves Australia at end of the
month. June: Fischer Fine Art established; Boyd taken on by Harry
Fischer as one of their regular exhibitors. December: exhibition of
graphic work shown at Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
(organised by the Australian Embassy and the Arts Council+. T. S. R.
Boase, Arthur Boyd: Nebuchadnezzar, London: Thames and Hudson. |
| 1973 |
August:
starts negotiations to buy Riversdale, a Shoalhaven property near
Bundanon, with the assistance of Frank McDonald who writes 27 August:
‘The prettiest part of the farm rises steeply from the water making it
possible to have a house commanding much better river views than we can
have at Bundanon’ Christopher Tadgell, Arthur Boyd Drawings 1934 –
1970, with a foreword by Laurie Thomas, London: Secker and Warburg and
Sydney: Rudy Komon Gallery, 1983: Arthur Boyd and Peter Porter, Jonah,
London: Secker and Warburg. |
| 1974 |
Executes
small paintings on copper of Shoalhaven scenes. September: work begins
at Riversdale; new colonial-style building designed by Andre Pobreski
erected on site adjacent to original house. October; returns to
Australia to live at Earie Park (owned by writer and critic Sandra
McGrath, Later sold to the Boyds and the Nolans) while Riversdale is
being finished. |
| 1975 |
Australian
National Gallery purchases twenty tapestries including St Francis
series (some subsequently used in re-furnishing of Yarralumla, the
Governor-General’s residence in Canberra). Visit to Shoalhaven by Peter
Porter. February: retrospective exhibition of drawings at Rudy Komon
Art Gallery, Sydney (sixty-five works acquired from exhibition by Art
Gallery of South Australia). April: presents large collection of
pastels, sculptures, ceramics, etchings, tapestries, about 200
paintings and more than 2500 drawings to National Gallery of Australia.
May: moves to Riversdale. Returns to England later in the year and
takes up residence at Ramsholt, where he has acquired a lease. Arthur
Boyd and Peter Porter, The Lady and Unicorn, London: Secker and Warburg. |
| 1976 |
Begins work on Narcissus series of paintings. |
| 1977 |
Included
in The Heroic Years of Australian Painting 1940 – 1965, touring
regional galleries of Victoria. July – September: exhibition of
paintings from 1972 and 1973 at University Art Gallery, University of
Melbourne. November – December: Visits Courbet exhibition at Grand
Palais, Paris. |
| 1978 |
February:
returns to Australia for the whole year to paint Shoalhaven landscapes.
Visits Lawrence Daws at Graphic Department, University of Queensland,
to use etching facilities. Alexander Pushkin, Pushkin’s Fairy Tales,
with lithographs by Arthur Boyd, translated by Janet Dalley, London:
Barrie and Jenkins. Television film, A Man of Two Worlds with John Read
(producer, writer and narrator) a BBC and ABC co-production. |
| 1979 |
Purchases
Bundanon from Frank McDonald and stockbroker Tony McGrath. Awarded
Order of Australia (AO) for services to art. January: returns to
Ramsholt. February – March: exhibition of Shoalhaven and Narcissus
paintings, lithographs and watercolours at Fremantle Art Gallery,
Perth. August: St Francis tapestries shown in the Great Hall, National
Gallery of Victoria. |
| 1980 |
February:
seventeen works included in Australian Drawings of the Thirties and
Forties at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. |
| 1981 |
Returns
to Australia to live at Bundanon. He and Nolan fight to stop
sand-dredging near Riversdale on the Shoalhaven. April: Elektra design
included in exhibition of ballet costumes at Victoria and Albert
Museum, London. Solo exhibitions in Melbourne (September – October) and
Sydney (November). November: included in Modernism, Murrumbeena and
Angry Penguins. The Boxer Collection, Nolan Gallery, Lanyon Homestead,
ACT. |
| 1982 |
The
house, Paretaio (acquired in the early 1970’s), near Palaio in Tuscany,
is made available to Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board as a studio
within their Artist in Residence programme. Bundanon declared a
Wildlife Refuge under the provisions of the New South Wales National
Parks and Wildlife Act, to achieve by appropriate management the
restoration of the wildlife habitat and forest areas to a state of
naturalness. Also, an interim Trust comprising Boyd, Nolan and
Melbourne solicitor William Lasica, is formed to commence work towards
creating at Bundanon a home for the artworks to be donated by Arthur
and Yvonne and other Australian artists. July: returns to Ramsholt.
August: tapestry (The prodigal son) commissioned by Miss Margaret
Feilman and Miss Patricia Feilman in memory of their mother, Ethel
Anne, presented to Art Gallery of Western Australia. December – March
1983: subsequently represented in The Painter as Potter: Decorated
Ceramics of the Murrumbeena Circle, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne. Sandra McGrath, The Artist and the River, Sydney: Bay Books. |
| 1983 |
March:
substantially represented in The Boyd Family. A survey of the Bundanon
Collection at Arts Council Gallery, Canberra and touring venues. May:
loan exhibition of paintings, lithographs and etchings mounted by
Broken Hill City Art Gallery. |
| 1984 |
January:
leaves London to return to Bundanon; arrives in February. Receives
commission from Parliament House Authority to design tapestry for
reception hall at new Parliament House, Canberra. Also commissioned to
paint sixteen canvases for the foyer of the Victorian Art Centre,
Melbourne. Begins work on the Bather series. Donates painting to set up
Arthur Boyd Fund for Marine Mammals. June: works from the collection
shown at Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. September: during
exhibition of Narcissus etchings in Tokyo, a full frontal male nude is
removed by Customs. Arthur Boyd and Peter Porter, Narcissus, London:
Secker and Warburg, 1984. |
| 1985 |
April:
leaves Australia to return to England. June – September: Seven
Persistent Images, a major exhibition based on Arthur Boyd Gift of
1975, at Australian National Gallery, Canberra. Arthur Boyd in the
Landscape, film directed by Don Featherstone, for London Weekend
Television’s South Bank Show, to be broadcast in 1986. |
| 1986 |
Seven
Persistent Images tours regional galleries in Victoria, South Australia
and New South Wales. November – December: loan exhibition of Bride
series at Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne. Ursula Hoff, The Art
of Arthur Boyd, London: Andre Deutsch. |
| 1987 |
Tapestry installed at Parliament House, Canberra. |
| 1988 |
Executes
huge enamel mural for Harry Seidler’s Shell house in Melbourne
(completed 1989). May – August: 28 loan works included in Angry
Penguins and Realist Painting in Melbourne in the 1940’s at Hayward
Gallery, London. September: selected to represent Australia at 43rd
Venice Biennale with eight works. Commissioned to paint Earth and fire,
front cover for 28 November issue dealing with environmental
conversation in Australia. Portrait painted by Nolan for Archibald
Prize at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. Receives award as
Irish-Australian of the Year. |
| 1989 |
February:
Venice Biennale works shown at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
February – October: exhibition of works from collection of Mornington
Peninsula Arts Centre, touring regional galleries in Victoria. |
| 1990 |
Australian
Government accepts in principle the gift of Bundanon. Patricia Dobrez
and Peter Herbst, The Art of the Boyds, Sydney: Bay Books. |
| 1991 |
Magic Flute series exhibited at Sydney Opera House, organised by Wagner Gallery, and touring regional galleries 1991 – 92. |
| 1992 |
Awarded
Companion of the Order of Australia. Leaves England for a year to
travel to Italy and Australia; his absence from England ensures no UK
inheritance tax on Bundanon gift. Arrives in Australia in October. |
| 1993 |
February:
Prime Minister, Paul Keating, announces acceptance of gift of 1000
hectare property, Bundanon (an amalgam of Bundanon, Riversdale and
anther neighbouring property) on behalf of the nation. Gift also
includes several thousand works of art from five generations of Boyds
and other Australian artists. Remains in Australia for the whole year.
December – March 1994: major retrospective exhibition at Art Gallery of
New South Wales and touring venues. |
| 1995 |
Awarded Australian of the Year in recognition of his contribution to Australian art and to the community. |
| 1999 |
April
24: Arthur Boyd dies in Melbourne at the age of 78. He is survived by
his wife, Yvonne, three children and many grandchildren and great
grandchildren. |
| |
Photograph courtesy of Michel Lawrence
| Group Exhibitions | | | 2007 | 'Small Pleasures: Painting and Sculpture', Australian Galleries, Melbourne | | 'Stock Show', Australian Galleries, Melbourne | | 2006 | '50th Anniversary Exhibition', Australian Galleries, Melbourne | | 'Fine Australian Prints and Drawings', Australian Galleries, Melbourne | | 'Stock Show', Australian Galleries, Melbourne |
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