Saturday, February 1

Things I Know About Arthur Boyd

 Earlier on in the week a Facebook friend of mine posted a status with the following

The idea is to occupy Facebook with art, breaking the monotony of photos of lunch, sushi and sports. Whoever likes this post will receive an artist and is asked to publish a piece by that artist with this text. I was given Picasso.

Since I 'liked' the photo she shared I was then given an artist of my own to go and share some art love with.

image from here
The artist I was given was Arthur Boyd.

Now while I vaguely knew that he was an Australian artist I didn't actually know too much else about him. However in the process of finding an image to share of his works I decided that we should all know a little more about this great Australian.

So here are some of the things I now know about the great Arthur Boyd.

Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd AC OBE was born on July 24 1920 in Murrumbeena, Victoria. Born into a long standing artistic family Arthur was destined to be an artist. He is known as one of Australia's leading painters of the late 20th century.

At the age of fourteen Boyd left school and briefly took some night classes at the National Gallery School in Melbourne. It was here, under the teachings of a Jewish immigrant artist that he began to develop a social conscience and humanitarian values.

In 1941 Boyd was conscripted and served with the Cartographic Unit until 1944. During this time however he did not see active duty. His expressionistic wartime paintings where considered painful images of the dispossessed and the outcast.

Boyd and his wife Yvonne spent a great deal of time traveling. Both in Australia and overseas. After spending time in Central Australia he created what some call his best known work Love, Marriage and Death of a Half-Caste Bride series. These were a representation of his observations of the Aboriginal people he had encountered in his time near Alice Springs.

During his life Boyd received many accolades. In  1970 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to art. Then in 1979 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the visual arts. He was also appointed Companion of the Order of Australia in 1992 in recognition of his service to the visual arts and to the development of Australian artists and crafts people. Though perhaps the highest honour came in 1995 when Boyd was named as the Australian of the Year.  in 1998 Boyd was honoured by Australia Post with a series of postage stamps.

Boyd passed away in 1999, aged 78 years. He was survived by his wife Yvonne, their son Jamie and daughters Polly and Lucy. Boyd's legacy will live on through the Bundanon Trust. In 1993 Boyd and his wife donated their rural New South Wales property to the people of Australia.

Home to more than 4000 artworks and objects Bundanon is set on 1100 hectares of pristine Australian bush overlooking the Shoalhaven River. The area provided Boyd with many years of inspiration and he wanted to provide a similar opportunity for other artists.

I know that by all accounts Arthur Boyd sounds like a pretty amazing man
I know that he painted some rather awesome pictures.
I know that you should totally go and share all the things you know with Miss Cinders


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2 comments:

  1. An amazing artist wasn't he :)

    Not many people know that I love art, Australian artist. I've been lucky enough in my lifetime to meet some incredible Australian artists, and to be able to call a couple of them friends.

    I could spend a lifetime just looking at art *sigh* Imagine having the time just to soak it all in. Bliss.

    MC xo
    #thingsiknow

    ReplyDelete

Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses to you, thanks for stopping by, it really means a lot, you taking the time so say hi. I try as much as I can to write a reply but if for some chance I don't get to it please know that I always read them.