Merric Boyd
Works on Paper
28 September – 19 October
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William Merric Boyd (1888-1959) is perhaps best known as the father of artists Arthur, Guy, and David, but Merric was a talented artist in his own right, and without this nurturing artistic upbringing, the Boyd brothers may have never left the legacy that they did. Merric is often referred to as the father of Australian studio pottery and alongside his wife and children he created a tremendous output, with works now held across all major collections in Australia.
He was born in Melbourne’s bayside suburb of St. Kilda. Like his own children, he was also born into an artistic family and was a key link in what would become an artistic dynasty. His father, Arthur Merric Boyd (1862-1940), was a member of the influential Heidelberg School and his mother, Emma Minnie Boyd (1858-1936), exhibited with the Royal Academy in London from the late 19th century.
Merric attended the National Gallery School in 1910, and although later renowned as a potter, he studied drawing during his semester there. It was here that he met fellow artist Doris Gough who he would go on to marry in 1915. They would frequently collaborate on works together with Doris often painting her husband’s pottery. After his formal training, his parents bought him a block of land in the outer-suburb of Murrumbeena where he drew up plans for the family home ‘Open Country’. The plans naturally included a studio for his practice in addition to the homestead.
During the First World War he enlisted as an Air Mechanic in the Australian Flying Corps and was sent to the UK. He never saw active service and at the end of the war he took the opportunity to complete pottery studies at the Stoke Technical School as part of a repatriation scheme. He later received an invitation from Josiah Wedgewood to the potteries at Stoke-on-Trent.
Throughout his life, the artist struggled with epilepsy. The location of the plot at Murrumbeena was even chosen by his parents for its vicinity to neurologist Dr John Springthorpe. By the late 1940s Merric’s health had deteriorated to a level that restricted him from the arduous pottery process. From this period until his death in 1959, Merric focused on drawing. In these later years he produced small works on paper often depicting charming pastoral and coastal scenes, no doubt inspired by his early Bayside upbringing and many years spent at Open Country.
Alongisde this selection of Merric Boyd works on paper we are delighted to present a selection of incredibly rare Hermia Boyd oil on glass paintings alongside David Boyd’s ‘Over the Mountains‘ (1957/8). The 5 paintings by Hermia completed in the mid-late 1960s are delicately handled and finely executed on panes of glass which imbues the works with a silky finish. ‘Over the Mountains‘ is a highly significant work from the artist’s seminal ‘Explorers‘ series exhibited at Australian Galleries in 1958. All works exhibited were previously held in the David and Hermia Boyd private collection.