David Boyd (1924 - )

Born in 1924 to artist parents, Merric and Doris Boyd, David Boyd was raised in Murrembeena, Melbourne, in an atmosphere rich in all aspects of the creative arts. Along side his brother Arthur Boyd and other major figures in Australian art, Charles Blackman, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval and Clifton Pugh, David Boyd joined art historian Bernard Smith in producing the Antipodean Manifesto which famously defended the place of figurative art.

His long and illustrious career includes extensive exhibitions internationally and throughout Australia. His work is represented in all major public art galleries, museums and university collections around Australia and collections throughout the world.

David Boyd’s paintings resonate amongst contemporary audiences and continue to be highly sought after for private collections.

David Boyd (1924 - )


1924 Born, Murrumbeena, Melbourne.
Son of Merric and Doris Boyd.
Studied pottery, piano and painting within his family.
1941 Entered the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music at age 17.
1942 Joined Contemporary Art Society of Australia. Conscripted into Australian Army.
1944-46 Studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the National Gallery School on an ex-serviceman's grant.
First exhibition of paintings with John Yule at the Rowden White Library, University of Melbourne.
In partnership with brother Guy Boyd founded Martin Boyd pottery in Sydney.
1947 Painting expedition in New Caledonia with author Hugh Atkinson.
1948-49 Married Hermia Lloyd-Jones, younger daughter of graphic artist Herman (Jonah) and Erica Lloyd-Jones. Began pottery career with Hermia.
First exhibition of pottery in Sydney.
1950-55 Established pottery studios in London and in the South of France
Travelled widely throughout Spain. Returned to Australia.
1956 David and Hermia Boyd became widely known as leading Australian potters.
Major exhibition of ceramic tiles and sculptures at the Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
1957-58 Commenced painting 'The Explorer' series.
Exhibited at the Australian Galleries, Melb ourne, and Clune Galleries, Sydney.
1959 Started ‘The Tasmanians’ series of paintings.
Exhibited 'The Explorers and The Tasmanians' in Adelaide
Took part in issuing the Antipodean manifesto with Blackman, Arthur Boyd, Brack, Dickerson, Perceval, Pugh and B. Smith
defending the figurative image in contemporary painting in a joint exhibition in Melbourne.
1960 Commenced a series of paintings on the theme of 'Law and Justice, ‘The Trial series'. Elected President of the Contemporary Art Society
(Victorian branch), Councillor of the Museum of Modern Art of Australia.
1961 First prize Italian Art Scholarship for Australia. Chairman of the Federal Council of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia.
1962 Lived in Rome, continuing 'The Trial' series, before returning to England. Settled in London.
1963 First one-man exhibitions in London and Paris of 'The Trial' paintings.
1964 Revisited Spain and painted 'Church and State' series based upon this visit.
1965 One-man exhibitions in London and in Australia of 'Church and State'.
1966 Discovered Sfumato, a method of using candle flame to create images, a word used by Leonardo da Vinci to describe graduations
of a misty tone in painting (although there is no evidence that Leonardo used a candle flame to achieve this effect).
1967-69 Exhibited Sfumato paintings in London and in Australia, including Newcastle, New South Wales.
Exhibited late Sfumato and 'Limbo' paintings in Adelaide, South Australia. 'War Games' in Sydney, NSW.
Commenced ‘The Wanderer’ series of paintings, inspired by the life of Benjamin Boyd, an Australian adventurer of the 1840s.
Retrospective exhibition of loaned works from various collections in Australia and Britain at Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery,
London, Edinburgh and Sheffield.
1970 Settled in south of France. First exhibition of ‘The Wanderer’ series at Adelaide Festival of Arts, South Australia.
Next at von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
1971 Exhibited 'The Wanderer' series in separate sections in three concurrent London exhibitions.
Started the 'Orchard of Heaven' series first exhibited in Brisbane, Queensland. Visited Australia.
1972 Developed theme of 'The Orchard' and exhibited series entitled 'The Garden in the Wilderness' in Newcastle, New South Wales.
1973 Exhibited 'The Exiles' series in London and in Melbourne, Victoria.
1974 Retrospective exhibition at Skinner Galleries, Perth, Festival of Arts.
1975 Retrospective exhibition at von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle, NSW.
1976 Retrospective exhibition at Bonython Gallery, Sydney.
1979-82 Major retrospective exhibition, Albert Hall, Canberra.
Painted a series of works entitled 'The Day of the Picnic'.
1983 'Retrospecitive Exhibition 1957-82', Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1985 Exhibition 'Four Seasons', Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1986 Exhibited 'A Judge in the Landscape' series, Hong Kong; Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney; von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
1987 Exhibition 'Requiem for the Birth of a Nation', Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney.
1988 Exhibition 'Antipodean Second Chapter', Lauraine Diggins Fine Arts, Melbourne; Lanyon Gallery, Canberra.
1989 S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 'Antipodean Second Chapter'.
1991-92 'The Clown in the Tree' series.
1992 Survey retrospective exhibitions Wagner Gallery, Sydney; Caulfield Art Complex, Melbourne; Macquarie University,
Sydney; Beaver Galleries, Sydney, Canberra.
1993-94 'Metaphors of Trial' series, von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
1995 'The Legend of Europa and the Cockatoos', Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney.
1996 'Europa in Australia', von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
1996-97 'Driftwood' and the 'Hierarchy' series, von Bertouch Galleries; Wagner Gallery, Sydney.
1998 Music and the Angels, Galeria Aniela, Kangaroo Valley.
1999 Survey retrospective, von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle.
2001 Reconciliation, Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney, NSW.

Appointments and Awards

1960 President of the Contemporary Art Society (Victorian branch)
1960 Elected Councillor of the Museum of Modern Art of Australia
1961 First Prize Italian Art Scholarship for Australian Chairman of the Federal Council of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia.
1993-96 Artist in residence School of Law, Macquarie University, NSW
1998 MEMBRO ALBO DORO DEL SENATO ACCADEMICO - International Academy of
Modern Art, Rome, Italy


Selected Bibliography

Bonython, K. Modern Australian painting and Sculpture, Griffin Press,
Adelaide, 1960
Bonython, K. Modern Australian Painting 1960-1970, with introduction by
Ross K. Luck, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 1970
Boyd, Martin, Day of my Delight, Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1965
Burr, James & Williams, Sheldon, Sfumato Paintings and Drawings of David
Boyd (monograph). Ritchie Dickson Limited, London, 1967
Finlay, D. J. Modern Australian Painting, Beaverbrook Newspapers Limited,
London, 1963
Hood, K., Pottery, Longmans, Melbourne, 1961
Luck, Ross K, The Australian Painters, 1964-66
The Mertz Collection, Griffin Press, Adelaide, 1966
Luck, Ross K., Modern Australian Painting, Sun Books, Melbourne, 1969
Parr, Lenton, Sculpture, Longmons, Melbourne, 1961
Pringle, J. D., Australian Painting Today, Thames & Hudson, London, 1963
Smith, Bernard, Australian Painting 1788-1960, and revised edition
1788-1970, Oxf ord University Press, 1962
Smith, Bernard, Australian Painting Today, University of Queensland Press,
1962
Osborne, Harold (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Art, Oxford University
Press, 1970
Benko, Nancy, The Art of David Boyd (monograph), Hyde Park Press,
Adelaide, 1973 (with foreward by Judith Wright)
Craig, Edward D., Australian Art Auction Records 1973-75, Ure Smith,
Sydney, 1975
Vader, John, The Pottery and Ceramics of David and Hermia Boyd,
Mathews/Hutchinson, Sydney, 1977
Benezit, E., Dictionaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Librairie Grand Paris,
1976
Smith, Bernard, Catalogue, David Boyd Retrospective Exhibition,
Commonwealth Institute, London, 1969
Marginson, Ray, Catalogue of the Melbourne University Art Collection, 1971
The Antipodean Manifesto, catalogue of Antipodean Exhibition, Melbourne,
1959
Recent Australian Painting, Whitechapel Gallery, 1961
Commonwealth Art Today, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1962
Craig, Edward D., Australian Art Auction Records 1976-1978, Rigby, 1979
Scarlett, Ken, Australian Sculptors, Nelson, 1980
Germaine, Max, Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand,
Landsdown, 1979 & 1984
Craig, Edward D., Australian Art Auction Records, Currawong Press, New
South Wales, 1982
Craig, Edward D., Australian Art Auction Records - Australian Art Sales,
1987-1989
Fry, Gavin & Gray, Anne, Masterpieces of the Australian War Memorial,
Rigby, 1982
Dolan, David, Charles Bannon: Australian Printmaker: An Aspect of
Australian art 1968-1982, Angus and Robertson
Smith, Bernard, The Critic as Advocate, Oxford, 1989
Dbrez, Patricia & Herbst, Peter, The Art of the Boyds, Bay Books, New
South Wales, 1991
Craig, Edward D., 'Australian Art Auctions Records 1989-1991' Vol 7
Australian Art Sales, NSW, 1991
Merric Boyd Studio Potter 1888-1959 Victoria, Hammond, National Gallery of
Victoria, Melbourne, 1990
von Bertouch, Anne, What Was It..., Hunnifords Lane Press, Newcastle,
1989-90
Arnold, John & Morris, Dierdre (eds.), Monash Biographical Dictionary of
20th Century Australia, Reed Reference Publishing, 1994
Furby, Paula & Snowden, Betty, The University of Adelaide Art Collections,
University of Adelaide, S.A., 1995
Art and Law, vol. 20, no. 2, April 1995, Monash University, Victoria
From Vision to Sesquicentenary, The University of Sydney, 1999
Amadio, Nadine, Introduction to catalogue, Reconciliation, Eva Breuer Art
Dealer, Sydney, 2001


Collections

Paintings:
Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Queensland University, Brisbane
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Ballarat Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria
Sydney University (Law Faculty), Sydney
Harold Mertz Collection of Australian Paintings, USA
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Lincolnshire and South Humberside Arts, Usher Gallery, Lincoln, England
Fine Arts Department, University of Melbourne
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Adelaide Art Teachers College, Adelaide, SA
Monash University, Melbourne
Law School, University of Melbourne
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Sydney University Power Collection
Bendigo Art Gallery
Graylands College, Perth, Western Australia
National Gallery of Victoria