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[[James Gleeson]], writing in the ''[[The Sun-Herald|Sun-Herald]]'',<ref>quoted in {{Citation | author1=Von Bertouch, Anne | author2=Hutchings, Patrick, 1929- | title=Guy Boyd | page=125 | publication-date=1976 | publisher=Lansdowne Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11182969}}</ref> Sydney in June 1966 provides insight into Boyd's choice of sculptural medium, his method of working and its influence on the forms he favoured:
[[James Gleeson]], writing in the ''[[The Sun-Herald|Sun-Herald]]'',<ref>quoted in {{Citation | author1=Von Bertouch, Anne | author2=Hutchings, Patrick, 1929- | title=Guy Boyd | page=125 | publication-date=1976 | publisher=Lansdowne Press | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11182969}}</ref> Sydney in June 1966 provides insight into Boyd's choice of sculptural medium, his method of working and its influence on the forms he favoured:
<blockquote>Boyd’s technique is not merely original (for that in itself is not necessarily a virtue), it is original and entirely at one with the intention of the artist. He has perfected the ideal means for saying what he wants to say, so the originality of his technique is also artistically important. First stage in the transmutation of nature into art is a wax model. This is the creative stage when the soft wax must be thumbed into a work of art that is alive with the vibrancy of nature. The next stage is the [[Electroplating|plating]] of the model with silver or copper, but the usual process would smooth away the subtleties of surface modelling and destroy its vitality. So the wax effigy sits in its acid bath for weeks on end and a very low charge of electricity gradually deposits a paper thin layer of metal on its surface. The wax is chemically dissolved, the shell is strengthened on the inside and finally filled with a plastic stone that will neither expand nor contract to endanger the metal skin. </blockquote>
<blockquote>Boyd’s technique is not merely original (for that in itself is not necessarily a virtue), it is original and entirely at one with the intention of the artist. He has perfected the ideal means for saying what he wants to say, so the originality of his technique is also artistically important. First stage in the transmutation of nature into art is a wax model. This is the creative stage when the soft wax must be thumbed into a work of art that is alive with the vibrancy of nature. The next stage is the [[Electroplating|plating]] of the model with silver or copper, but the usual process would smooth away the subtleties of surface modelling and destroy its vitality. So the wax effigy sits in its acid bath for weeks on end and a very low charge of electricity gradually deposits a paper thin layer of metal on its surface. The wax is chemically dissolved, the shell is strengthened on the inside and finally filled with a plastic stone that will neither expand nor contract to endanger the metal skin. </blockquote>

Of his working technique, art historian, art critic and curator Sacha Grishin noted that Boyd worked directly with his wax or clay, rather than through preparatory drawings, accepting the modelling and subtraction of material, and revelation of the unexpected, as crucial to the creative process.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122501540 |title=LIFE STYLE ART TV—ARTS—ENTERTAINMENT |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=59, |issue=18,057 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=7 March 1985 |accessdate=28 September 2019 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>


As well as the electroplating technique described, Boyd also produced sculptures and reliefs in terracotta and plaster, but most are bronze cast in the [[Lost-wax casting|lost wax process]],<ref>{{Citation | author1=Boyd, Phyllis | author2=von Bertouch, Anne, 1915-2003 | title=Guy Boyd: survey of sculpture in bronze, 1946-1985 | publication-date=1985 | publisher=Holdsworth Gallery | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/224549004 | accessdate=28 September 2019 }}</ref> in which he innovated through the admixture of silicon with wax,<ref name=":0" /> and editions produced in bronze, aluminium and even silver.
As well as the electroplating technique described, Boyd also produced sculptures and reliefs in terracotta and plaster, but most are bronze cast in the [[Lost-wax casting|lost wax process]],<ref>{{Citation | author1=Boyd, Phyllis | author2=von Bertouch, Anne, 1915-2003 | title=Guy Boyd: survey of sculpture in bronze, 1946-1985 | publication-date=1985 | publisher=Holdsworth Gallery | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/224549004 | accessdate=28 September 2019 }}</ref> in which he innovated through the admixture of silicon with wax,<ref name=":0" /> and editions produced in bronze, aluminium and even silver.

Revision as of 12:29, 28 September 2019

Guy Boyd
The Swimmer
at the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
Born
Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd

(1923-06-12)12 June 1923
Murrumbeena, Victoria, Australia
Died26 April 1988(1988-04-26) (aged 64)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forSculpture, pottery
Spouse(s)Barbara Dawn Cooper (1950–2)
Phyllis Nairn (1952– )

Guy Martin à Beckett Boyd (12 June 1923 – 26 April 1988) was an Australian potter and figurative sculptor noted for his ability to represent sensuality in the female nude with fluid forms.[1][2] He was also active in environmental and other causes, including protesting against the damming of the Franklin River and advocating the innocence of Lindy Chamberlain.[3]

The Boyd family artistic dynasty includes painters, sculptors, architects and other arts professionals, commencing with Boyd's grandfather Arthur Merric Boyd, Boyd's father Merric and mother Doris, uncles Penleigh Boyd and Martin Boyd, and brothers Arthur and David, both painters. Mary Boyd, his sister and also a painter, married first John Perceval, and then later Sidney Nolan, both artists.

Background and early years

Born in Murrumbeena, Victoria, he was the third child of William Merric Boyd, potter, and his wife Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield, née Gough, a painter, and thus a member of the Boyd artist dynasty, brother of painters Arthur Boyd and David Boyd, and grew up in his father's pottery. In 1941-46 he served in the Australian Army Reserve, however as a committed pacifist he was deployed as a draughtsman in Melbourne and then at Fortuna mansion in Bendigo, before conflicts with his superiors resulted in his being posted in 1944 to the 103rd Convalescent Depot, Ingleburn, to teach pottery to the patients.[4][5]

Career

Ceramicist

After World War 2, Boyd worked as a potter, establishing both Martin Boyd Pottery and later Guy Boyd Pottery.[6] These studios produced a wide range of modernist objects from house-wares to decorative pieces which enjoyed strong commercial success. Iconic Australian imagery, particularly flora and indigenous motifs,[7] feature frequently. This period of work is also steeped in the 'atomic age' aesthetics of the 1950s and early 1960s with a familiar color palette and shapes that strongly echo Eames and others.[4]

Sculptor

Boyd turned away from this commercial work and to a full-time career in sculpture in 1965 when he held his first solo show at Australian Galleries in Melbourne. His commissions include sculptures in both Melbourne and Sydney's international airports, Caulfield Town Hall, the Commonwealth Bank and has pieces in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. He had exhibitions of his work in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. In 1968 he won a Churchill Fellowship to study art overseas. He was recognised with a large format monograph, Guy Boyd written by gallerist Anne Von Bertouch and art historian Patrick Hutchins and published by Lansdowne Press. Later that year Guy and Phyllis migrated to Canada with their four younger children, settling in Toronto in 1976, but returned to live in Australia five years later.[8] He was appointed the Art Advisor to Deakin University in 1988.

Technique

James Gleeson, writing in the Sun-Herald,[9] Sydney in June 1966 provides insight into Boyd's choice of sculptural medium, his method of working and its influence on the forms he favoured:

Boyd’s technique is not merely original (for that in itself is not necessarily a virtue), it is original and entirely at one with the intention of the artist. He has perfected the ideal means for saying what he wants to say, so the originality of his technique is also artistically important. First stage in the transmutation of nature into art is a wax model. This is the creative stage when the soft wax must be thumbed into a work of art that is alive with the vibrancy of nature. The next stage is the plating of the model with silver or copper, but the usual process would smooth away the subtleties of surface modelling and destroy its vitality. So the wax effigy sits in its acid bath for weeks on end and a very low charge of electricity gradually deposits a paper thin layer of metal on its surface. The wax is chemically dissolved, the shell is strengthened on the inside and finally filled with a plastic stone that will neither expand nor contract to endanger the metal skin.

Of his working technique, art historian, art critic and curator Sacha Grishin noted that Boyd worked directly with his wax or clay, rather than through preparatory drawings, accepting the modelling and subtraction of material, and revelation of the unexpected, as crucial to the creative process.[10]

As well as the electroplating technique described, Boyd also produced sculptures and reliefs in terracotta and plaster, but most are bronze cast in the lost wax process,[11] in which he innovated through the admixture of silicon with wax,[8] and editions produced in bronze, aluminium and even silver.

Reception and criticism

Sacha Grishin writing in The Canberra Times in 1987, reviewed one of Boyd’s last shows, at Beaver Galleries in Canberra. He compares the sculptor’s Boyd family inheritance of ‘figurative humanism’ with the prevailing abstract sculpture imitative of Anthony Caro. Describing Boyd as never having been a ‘fashionable sculptor’ he praises his avoidance of ‘slick’ realism and his concentration on the human figure as a ‘vehicle for communicating ideas’, ability to convey beauty without 'sentimentalism', and freedom in movement, through ‘an exciting resolution of the arrangement of volumes within graceful floating lines.’[12]

Activism

In 1967 Boyd founded and was President of the Brighton Foreshore Protection Committee; a plaque commemorating his achievements in preservation and conservation was erected on the beach at Brighton.[13] He was vocal in condemning inappropriate development and council corruption in the suburb, where he had settled after purchasing and restoring a house that was once his father's,[14] and advocated for councillors to be paid in order to attract candidates less compromised than those who were real estate agents and property developers.

After he and Phyllis Boyd were early involved in a call for a judicial inquiry into the case they were active in instigating a 'Save Lindy Chamberlain' campaign. He drew up a petition entitled 'A Plea for Mercy' and became the Australian Co-ordinator of the effort and, in 1984, edited the book Justice in Jeopardy in Chamberlain's defence. In 1983, as a member of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, Boyd lobbyed against the Tasmanian State Government's plan to dam the Franklin River.

Death

Boyd died 26 April 1988 from coronary artherosclerosis and was buried with Anglican rites in Brighton cemetery. His wife, Phyllis, and their five daughters and two sons, survived him.[15]

Exhibitions

Solo

  • 1965: Australian Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1965: Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide
  • 1966: Bonython’s Hungry Horse Art Gallery, Sydney
  • 1967: Australian Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1967: The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
  • 1968: Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide
  • 1968: Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1969: The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
  • 1970: The Leicester Galleries, London[16]
  • 1970: Bonython Art Gallery, Sydney[17]
  • 1971: Andrew Ivanyi Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1971: Von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1971: Skinner Galleries, Perth
  • 1972: Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide
  • 1972: The Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane[18]
  • 1973: Manyung Galleries, Victoria
  • 1973: Von Bcrtouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1973: Skinner Galleries, Perth
  • 1974: Andrew Ivanyi Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1974: Phillip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane[19]
  • 1975: Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide
  • 1975: Andrew Ivanyi Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1976: von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1976: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1976: Dominion Gallery, Montreal
  • 1977: The Randall Gallery, New York[20]
  • 1978: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1978: Retrospective: The Australian Embassy, Washington DC
  • 1979: Shaw Gallery, Toronto
  • 1980: The Randall Gallery, New York
  • 1980: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1981: von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1981: Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
  • 1982: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1983: von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1983: Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
  • 1984: Greenhill Galleries, Perth
  • 1984: Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
  • 1984: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1985: von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1985: Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
  • 1985: Golden Age (David Ellis) Gallery, Ballarat[21]
  • 1986: Clarkson University, New York
  • 1987: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane
  • 1987: David Ellis Fine Art, Melbourne
  • 1987: Beaver Galleries, Deakin, Canberra[22]
  • 1988: Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
  • 1988: Greenhill Galleries, Perth

Posthumous solo

  • 1989: von Bertouch Galleries, Newcastle
  • 1990: Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane

Group

From 1945, Guy Boyd exhibited in group shows all Australian State capitals,[23] with representation as recently as 2012,[24] and overseas, including Leicester Galleries, London in 1957, and at galleries in New York, San Francisco and Montreal.

Awards

1968: Churchill Fellowship

Collections and Commissions

  • Australian National Gallery, Canberra
  • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
  • Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • University of Melbourne, Melbourne
  • University of Newcastle, Newcastle
  • McLelland Art Foundation, Melbourne
  • Colac Sculpture Park
  • Churchill House, Canberra
  • International Airport, Melbourne
  • International Airport, Sydney
  • Australian Embassy, Washington DC
  • Prudential Art Museum, Toronto
  • Ballarat Art Gallery, Ballarat
  • La Trobe University, Melbourne
  • Monash University, Melbourne
  • National Sports Complex, Canberra
  • Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle
  • Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery, Darwin
  • Deakin University
  • Aquinas College of Advanced Education, Ballarat
  • Clarkson University, New York

Published works

  • Boyd, Guy, ed. (1984). Justice in jeopardy: twelve witnesses speak out. Cheltenham, Vic.: Guy Boyd: distributed by Kingfisher Books. p. 207. ISBN 0-9591142-0-3.

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ Savill Galleries (2005), The female form, Sydney, New South Wales
  2. ^ Von Bertouch, Anne; Hutchings, Patrick, 1929- (1976), Guy Boyd, Lansdowne Press{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Boyd, Guy, ed. (1984). Justice in jeopardy: twelve witnesses speak out. Cheltenham, Vic.: Guy Boyd: distributed by Kingfisher Books. p. 207. ISBN 0-9591142-0-3.
  4. ^ a b Niall, Brenda (2007). "Boyd, Guy Martin à Beckett (1923–1988)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Sydney, Day By Day". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 33, 459. New South Wales, Australia. 20 March 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Three generations of Australians achieved fame here and abroad—all of them born with a "magic touch" THREE GRACES BLESSED 'THOSE BOYDS'". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 33, 296. Victoria, Australia. 22 May 1953. p. 19. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau; Aboriginal Scholarships Appeal (1956), An exhibition of "Aboriginal design at work" in the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau Gallery, Monday, April 23rd. to Friday, May 4th, 1956 ... : Catalogue of exhibits, Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau Gallery
  8. ^ a b "Sculptor Guy Boyd moving to Canada". The Canberra Times. Vol. 59, , no. 18, 052. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 2 March 1985. p. 1. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ^ quoted in Von Bertouch, Anne; Hutchings, Patrick, 1929- (1976), Guy Boyd, Lansdowne Press, p. 125{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "LIFE STYLE ART TV—ARTS—ENTERTAINMENT". The Canberra Times. Vol. 59, , no. 18, 057. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 March 1985. p. 16. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  11. ^ Boyd, Phyllis; von Bertouch, Anne, 1915-2003 (1985), Guy Boyd: survey of sculpture in bronze, 1946-1985, Holdsworth Gallery, retrieved 28 September 2019{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Arts and Entertainment ART". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, , no. 18, 935. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 August 1987. p. 10. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  13. ^ "History & timeline - Brighton Bathing Box Association Inc". www.brightonbathingbox.org.au. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Sculptor leads fight to check concrete jungle". The Canberra Times. Vol. 47, , no. 13, 528. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 31 August 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  15. ^ "Obituary: GUY BOYD Youth was subject of his art". The Canberra Times. Vol. 62, , no. 19, 198. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 29 April 1988. p. 6. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  16. ^ Boyd, Guy; Boyd, Guy; Ernest Brown & Phillips (1970), Catalogue of the first exhibition in England of sculpture by Guy Boyd, Leicester Galleries
  17. ^ Boyd, Guy (1970), Guy Boyd, Bonython Art Gallery
  18. ^ Boyd, Guy (1972), Sculptures in bronze, Johnstone Gallery
  19. ^ Boyd, Guy; Philip Bacon Galleries (1974), Guy Boyd sculpture : at the Philip Bacon Galleries, Philip Bacon Galleries
  20. ^ Boyd, Guy; Randall Galleries (1977), "Sculpture in bronze" : (First exhibition in New York), Randall Galleries
  21. ^ Boyd, Guy; Philip Bacon Galleries (1974), Guy Boyd sculpture : at the Philip Bacon Galleries, Philip Bacon Galleries
  22. ^ "GOOD Times". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, , no. 18, 934. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 6 August 1987. p. 26. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  23. ^ Blackman, Charles; Blackman, Charles, 1928-2018; National Gallery of Victoria (1976), The antipodeans revisited : Melbourne figurative artists of the 1950's, National Gallery of Victoria, ISBN 978-0-7241-0025-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Savill Galleries, (host institution.) (2012), Celebrated Australian artists : 23 October-14 November 2012, Savill Galleries, retrieved 28 September 2019

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guy_Boyd_(sculptor)&oldid=918390238"