Arthur Boyd, a titan of Australian art, is celebrated for his evocative depictions of the Australian landscape, infused with religious symbolism, myth, and a touch of the monstrous. His iconic white gums by the Shoalhaven River are as recognisable as his profound impact on the nation’s cultural fabric. While his artworks command significant prices, reaching up to $1.95 million at auction, Boyd’s enduring legacy extends far beyond his canvases.
In a momentous act of generosity in 1993, Arthur Boyd and his wife, Yvonne, gifted their picturesque rural property, Bundanon, situated on the Shoalhaven River near Nowra on the NSW South Coast, to the Australian public. Today, Bundanon stands as a vibrant hub, housing not only Arthur Boyd’s historic homestead and studio but also a significant art gallery. This collection boasts over 1,200 works by Arthur himself, alongside pieces from his talented family members and other prominent Australian artists like Sidney Nolan and Brett Whiteley.
The Hidden Line: Unearthing the Boyd Women’s Artistic Legacy
A compelling new exhibition at Bundanon Art Museum, titled “The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women,” seeks to illuminate a less-explored facet of the Boyd dynasty. This exhibition delves into the crucial roles played by the women within Arthur Boyd’s family – those who nurtured his artistic aspirations, were artists in their own right, and the subsequent generations of female artists who carried the torch.
Curator Sophie O’Brien highlights the exhibition’s aim to uncover “more complex ideas about what makes a family [of artists].” She explains, “It’s five generations. What keeps that going? It doesn’t just happen on its own.” This extensive survey of artistic lineage promises a fresh perspective on the enduring creative spirit within the Boyd family.
Mary Nolan: A Sister’s Photographic Eye
Tessa, Arles by Mary Nolan
Mary Nolan, Arthur’s younger sister, forged her own artistic path, even marrying two prominent artists: John Perceval and later, the renowned Sidney Nolan, celebrated for his iconic Ned Kelly series. Mary was a formidable artist in her own right, initially exploring painting and ceramics in Melbourne’s bohemian outskirts at Heide and Murrumbeena. As she embraced her roles as wife and mother, her time for painting became limited. However, she found a new artistic voice through photography, meticulously documenting her family’s daily life and their international travels throughout the 1960s. Her candid shots capture intimate moments, from threading daisy chains in the grass to brushing teeth by the river.
A remarkable forty-eight of these previously unseen photographs are on display for the first time at Bundanon, on loan from the National Library of Australia, as part of “The Hidden Line.” O’Brien described her discovery of Mary’s work as unearthing a “treasure trove” – six boxes brimming with hundreds of negatives at the National Library.
Of the photograph Tessa, Arles, O’Brien notes, “It has the promise of the 60s in it, and of Australians being overseas, and that great energy that came from suddenly Australians going overseas and coming back and moving back and forth.” She further elaborates on Mary’s photographic approach: “In terms of photography of this time, she’s thinking in a very immediate, painterly way. The way she constructs an image is very much like a painting. She’s documenting, of course, but she makes it a total art form.”
Doris Boyd: A Mother’s Ceramic Artistry
Untitled jug by Doris Boyd
The exhibition also features a delicate jug by Doris Boyd (née Gough), Arthur’s mother, believed to be her very first ceramic creation from 1915. This piece was crafted in the studio workshop she shared with her husband, William Merric Boyd, in Murrumbeena. O’Brien observes how Doris’s distinctive painting style seamlessly translated to her ceramics, pointing to her watercolour and oil paintings displayed nearby. “That pot is such a delicate first attempt at thinking about how a form might be decorated differently,” she remarks.
Doris often collaborated with Merric on these ceramic pieces. While Merric would shape the clay, Doris would apply her artistic touch through painting. The couple would then take their creations to Melbourne to sell. However, discerning between Merric’s and Doris’s painted ceramics requires an understanding of Doris’s individual painting style, a nuance that has often been overlooked. O’Brien poses a pertinent question: “We’re trained in looking for a ‘Boyd blue’ or a ‘Merric crazy handle’, but we haven’t got this language [for Doris’s art] because it’s not what’s been repeated to us.” This exhibition challenges viewers to ask, “What don’t we know? What haven’t we seen? What else could we think about?”
Crucially, Doris Boyd played a pivotal role in fostering Arthur’s artistic development. “She’s the one that really helped her son to be an artist,” O’Brien states, referencing Arthur’s letters to his mother, filled with requests for financial support for canvases and enthusiastic sharing of his latest works. “There’s this real sense of mentorship and support and care and financial support for someone to be an artist full time.”
Emma Minnie Boyd: A Grandmother’s Watercolour Experiments
Gum Trees by Emma Minnie Boyd
Emma Minnie Boyd (née a’Beckett), Arthur’s grandmother, was a talented artist whose watercolour landscapes often captured the Australian bush. Supported by her own mother, Emma Mills, to pursue art professionally, Emma Minnie also created narrative and religious paintings in both watercolour and oil. Her work even gained recognition beyond Australian shores, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London.
What particularly captivates O’Brien about Emma Minnie’s watercolour Gum Trees, dating from around 1914, is its demonstration of the Boyd women’s experimental and forward-thinking approach. The piece exhibits a “delicacy of colour” and is rich with intricate details that reward close observation. O’Brien describes it as “like an abstract,” suggesting it was a private study where Emma Minnie was “working out how to look and see; [to] use watercolour and look at the landscape.” O’Brien speculates that the watercolour was likely painted en plein air, a practice that, while often associated with European traditions, is intrinsically suited to the Australian environment.
Despite the natural inclination to paint outdoors in Australia’s favourable climate, Emma Minnie, as a woman, was excluded from joining prominent male artists like Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton in their outdoor painting camps on the outskirts of Melbourne during the mid-1880s. O’Brien reflects, “En plein air painting, outdoor painting, we think of it as a European tradition, but it’s the most obvious thing to do in Australia is paint outdoors.” She adds, “The weather’s good enough that you can sit out, but also, landscape is so key to who we are. You get this energy of being outside and wanting to capture it. I think that’s a pretty good idea of how the family all painted at the time.”
Yvonne Boyd: A Wife’s Artistic Potential and Support
Melbourne tram by Yvonne Boyd
Yvonne Boyd (née Lennie), Arthur’s wife, created the painting Melbourne tram in 1944, a year before their marriage. They had first met in a drawing class four years prior. Later, Yvonne took on the crucial role of Arthur’s business manager and raised their three children, all of whom are also featured in “The Hidden Line.” During this period, she largely stepped away from her own artistic practice. “We only have two paintings, so she actually didn’t make a lot of work,” O’Brien notes. “But you can see she could have absolutely been an artist, but she stops, and she’s supporting an artist and supporting her children, who all turned into artists.”
Yvonne’s painting Melbourne tram aligns with the tradition of Australian artists like Albert Tucker, Sidney Nolan, and Charles Blackman, who in the 1940s, used their art to respond to the profound impact of the war. However, unlike Arthur’s focus on returned soldiers, Yvonne’s work captures the war’s effect on those at home in Australia. O’Brien explains, “Yvonne’s perspective is immediate; it’s domestic, it’s relational, and it could be real people.” She finds the painting particularly compelling for its ability to “capture the essence of the time, but from a slightly different angle, which is that personal one.” The painting, O’Brien suggests, conveys “the difficulty of this time in post-war Australia, where everybody’s got no money, they’re doing powdered eggs, they’ve got rations, and everybody’s struggling to keep it together.”
Hermia Boyd: A Sister-in-Law’s Playful Ceramics
Horse figure by Hermia and David Boyd
The exhibition also features a striking ceramic Horse figure by Hermia Boyd (née Lloyd-Jones), Arthur’s sister-in-law. Created in 1966, the piece showcases sgraffito, a technique involving carving through a surface layer to reveal colours beneath, and draws inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and ceramics. O’Brien expresses her admiration for the piece: “I just love the idea that it is a vessel; an animal that holds a dish. It’s just such a dynamic little piece of ceramic, and her playfulness, her elegance, it’s all written into these [ceramics].”
Hermia’s ceramics are often “animated” by images of animals, including rabbits, foxes, and birds. She frequently collaborated with her husband, David Boyd, on these works. Their pottery journey began in 1950 when they established their first pottery shed in Sydney with fellow potter Tom Sanders. They later worked in Italy, England, and France, eventually closing their last workshop on the outskirts of Melbourne in 1968 to focus on their individual artistic pursuits. Hermia gravitated towards etching and sculpture, while David concentrated on painting. Hermia also explored painting, drawing, and printmaking, demonstrating a constant drive for creative exploration. “She’s constantly trying new things,” O’Brien observes. “I just think that playfulness and that energy just comes out in these objects, and this little horse seems to capture it so well.”
“The Hidden Line: Art of the Boyd Women” is on display at Bundanon Art Museum until February 15.
