Arthur Boyd Essay

Arthur Boyd is a renowned Australian artist, who started to follow in his family’s footsteps and began exploring his artistic abilities from after being conscripted to World War II; until his death in 1999. Boyd worked in a wide range of mediums including paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and tapestries in ways that are highly inventive. His main influences were Australian landscapes, wartime, aboriginal rights and surrealism. Many of Boyd’s works were drawn from personal experience, symbolising human emotions, aggression against love and conveying themes around family relationships, values and religious beliefs.

Born into Australia’s leading art era, Arthur Boyd had a childhood that was heavily influenced by the practices of his relatives, who were all perusing artistic careers. Through the support and advantage of his family, he went on to become one of the most influential painters in Australian history. Arthur Boyd was born in the year 1920 in Murrumbeena. He is naturally talented - he received no additional artistic training except for the night classes he attended in Melbourne. He spent all his free time occupying his painting hobby, creating

impressionist landscapes and portraits of the places and people that surrounded him. It was during this time that Boyd learnt the palette-knife technique taught to him by Arthur Merric Boyd his grandfather and roll model; which has become his signature style used to produce many of his artworks of painting.

He was conscripted to serve in the Second World War from 1941-1944. As a pacifist who grew up in a highly creative environment, this proved to be a challenging time, which ultimately lead him to create works of the dispossessed people, which reflected his own experience. Boyd’s ability to convey a depth of emotion is apparent in ‘Gargoyles 1944’ where fear is symbolised by a small person crouching to the ground in pain, as well as an injured figure without the ability to stand thrusting with outstretched arms. “Above the building, the gargoyles appear so fully engaged in fulfilling their task of warding off evil that one almost feels they may soon become unhinged” (National Gallery of Australia, 2015). These works created in the time of world conflict became famous for their psychological insight, which paved the path to Boyd’s success, and the head of Australian art. Boyd’s painted depictions of the war reflected great sadness and psychologically damaged subjects. Ultimately the devastating effect that the war had on Boyd’s personality gave way to a particular expressive style almost characterised as surrealism.

As a practicing artist Boyd produced several series of work, created from a wide range of influences, such as: German expressionism, surrealism and the northern European painting tradition. He was also influenced by specific artists such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Josl Bergner. Following this phase of artistic interest, Boyd’s work soon took on a religious approach heavily inflicted upon him form his mother. He produced a collection of 15 biblical artworks; this series was painted in tempera as a giant mural, which later occupied the four walls of his uncle’s home.

Boyd’s most well known work is his Half Caste Bride Series. He was influenced by the early surrealist paintings of Chagall, and created a recurring motif in all 40 paintings. The flowers held by the brides are an original trademark by the Russian artist Marc Chagall. In Chagall's art, flowers are a sign of celebration, or the happiness of lovers, but for Boyd's brides the flowers represent respect for the dead. After making a trip to Alice Springs in Central Australia in 1953, he witnessed the day-to-day life of indigenous Australians. He found communities of aboriginal people living in makeshift conditions. He saw a cattle truck loaded with a group of brides dressed in their wedding finery. The shock and anger of which he witnessed totally altered the painter’s direction. Motifs and themes that Boyd has explored throughout his previous works – disfigured subjects, tormented lovers, beasts, fear, and conflict– are all present in these paintings, represented through a vivid colour pallet of blues, reds and oranges. There is a mysterious and surrealist edge to many of them, the exaggerated size of the feet and hands, and fragmentation of the facial features are all reminiscent of early Picasso. These were challenging works that confirmed his reputation as a major painter. These are the paintings he took to London in 1960, which was his first trip away from Australia and were showcased in his first exhibition. The critics reviewed them with a lot of fascination and praise. It also gave the people of Europe insight to life in Australia and aroused the public through the implicit messages.

Boyd returned to Australia in 1971 as one of Australia's most highly regarded artists. His ability to see the complexities of human condition and emotions is a trait that not many artists can grasp. Boyd then worked in collaboration with poet Peter Porter to create a series of multiple paintings accompanied by pomes. This series ‘the lady and the unicorn’ is made with black and white etchings and has literally told a story through visual language. This was a highly successful collaboration, the fine, precise lines that make-up the ground and trees reveal a lot of detail; combined with a velvety black background makes every part of the artwork stand out. His works displays a tragic love tale, told from the perspective of the mythical unicorn. He fell in love with a lady, who rejected his affections, then betrayed him to the hunters. These works were so popular that in 1974 he had a tapestry woven of his favourite etchings. Woven in black and white with subtle tonal gradations it is staggering in scale. Here the hunter is reaching up to heaven with one arm while the other holds a spear, moving in the opposite direction trying to kill. The sacred horn that the unicorn is so trustingly displaying is emphasised to demonstration dignity and respect, as he lies down almost as if it were humbly surrendering.

It was when he moved back to Australia and moved to Bundanoon on the Shoalhaven River where his artistic career took another dramatic turn, painting the magnificence of the landscapes that surrounded his new home.

Referred to by the Prime Minister, John Howard as a, “giant among Australian artists“ Arthur Boyd was made Australian of the Year in 1995. He returned to his love of landscape painting after purchasing this Bundanoon property, he continued this profession until the very end. “With the purchase ...[of Bundanon] ...came one of the most sustained forms of inspiration to Arthur Boyd's work.” (Breuer, E.) He died in 1999 at the age of 78, generously leaving his $20 million property available for the Australian public to see. Today the work of Arthur Boyd is displayed in all of Australia’s major

galleries.

Arthur Boyd has an astounding painting ability, whose works range from landscapes, abstract expressionism and serialism. Influenced by the society of the time, his paintings depict personal experiences of both the worst and best of Australia. After suffering first-hand life in wartime, the painful memories were shown upon the figures he painted. The effect that the war had on Boyd’s work gave way to the style characterised as serialism. He gained notoriety as a painter for the amazing abstract Bride Series he create when seeing the makeshift conditions of the aboriginal people. These works took Boyd to the top of Australian art and hadn’t been nocked down since. He then returned to landscape painting after purchasing the Bundanoon property where inspiration surrounded him on a day-to-day basis. When he sadly passed on, he left this property available for the public to see, leaving his legacy behind to be remembered, and to also perhaps inspire any up-coming painters.