Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd was born on the 20th of July 1920 and grew up in the open country of Murrumbeena, Melbourne. Arthur was born to William Merric Boyd and Doris Boyd who were both painters and potters. He had two brothers, David and Guy along with a sister Mary, in which each also painted or sculpted. Having grown up in an unorthodox Christian Scientist family, where all forms of creative attempts are enthusiastically encouraged, Arthur attended few night classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School.
Predominantly though, he was taught by his family and especially by his grandfather Arthur Merric Boyd who lived at Rosebud, Victoria. In 1936, at the age of 16, Arthur moved to the inner city of Rosebud to live with his grandfather until 1938. In 1937 Arthur held his first solo exhibition which was influenced by his contact with European refugees and could be seen throughout his artworks, which also saw a distinct period of representation of whimsical characters in urban settings. Later he created a tempera series called the Wimmera series which portrayed large areas of sky and land.
Wimmera Landscape Wimmera Landscape and Windmill During 1939 Arthur and his brother David went on a painting trip around the north eastern open country of Victoria and painted many scenes at Launching Place on the Yarra River. However this trip was cut short as Arthur’s grandfather became ill and later died July 1940. In May 1941, shortly after he became a member of the Angry Penguins artistic and literary group he was conscripted into the army where he meet fellow Melbourne painter John Perceval, who soon after married his sister Mary.
Originally stationed at Ballarat, he went to Balcombe on the Mornington Peninsula where he spent two months training as a machine gunner and was discharged from the army in March 1944. Afterwards he created a body of paintings showing his time spend in conscription which portrayed fear and cripples from the war. The Gargoyles Cripple and Shadow Arthur married his wife Yvonne Boyd nee Lennie in March 1945, who he had lived with prior to their marriage.
Yvonne gave birth to their first daughter Polly a year after in 1946, son James in 1948 and to their second daughter Lucy Boyd in 1958. Yvonne herself along with their three children were and are all also painters. In 1951 Arthur journeyed by train creating several drawings as he traveled to Alice Springs. These drawings were the basis of his later and best know work the Half Caste Bride Series which he based on his time and experiences at Alice Springs and Lake Eyre when he had direct contact with Aborigines.
Half-caste child Persecuted Lovers Arthur Boyd with the assistance of Frank McDonald started negotiations in August 1973 to buy Riversdale, a property near Nowra on the Shoalhaven River. It was bought in 1974 and work began on a new colonial style building near the original house during September. Once construction was finished Arthur moved to Riversdale for a short time before returning to England and taking up residence in Ramsholt.
Early 1978 Arthur retuned to Australia for a whole year and painted various Shoalhaven landscapes along with the purchase of Bundanon, a property near Riversdale overlooking the river, just before leaving to Ramsholt again. Finally Arthur and his family returned to Australia to live at Bundanon. He continued to travel back and forth from England to Australia creating artworks and displaying them in exhibitions. Throughout his later life he won many awards and become one of Australia’s most highly regarded and important artists. After living a long and successful life Arthur died on the 24th of April 1999 in Melbourne at the age of 78.
