BOYD, DAVID (1924-2011)

**PRICE ON APPLICATION**
 
"The Cockatoo's Gift" (c.2000)
oil on board
57.5 x 61.5cm
signed lower left
*private collection, Sydney
 
David was a famous Australian Painter & Ceramicist. He was the third son of Merric and Doris Boyd. He learnt pottery, painting and music within the family circle, the influential Boyd Dynasty, which produced several generations of famous artists, such as his brother, Arthur. After leaving school and working in a number of temporary jobs, he entered the Melbourne University's Conservatorium of Music at the age of seventeen, but was conscripted to the army after one year. Upon his return, he studied painting at the National Gallery School on an ex-serviceman's grant. In late 1946, he joined his brother Guy in Sydney to help him set up a pottery there. In Sydney, he met his future wife, Hermia Lloyd-Jones (1931-2000), who was studying art at the East Sydney Technical College & decorating pots for Guy on a piecework basis. David and Hermia were married in 1948. They settled in Sydney & set up a pottery with fellow Melbournian Tom Sanders, producing a range called Hermia Ware as well as making larger one-off pieces for exhibition.  In 1950, they went to Europe where they established pottery studios in London & in the South of France. In 1956, they returned to Australia, basing themselves at Murrumbeena & continuing to make & exhibit ceramics. Boyd also began seriously to work as a painter at this time. In 1961, they moved to Rome, then London where they closed their last pottery in 1968 to concentrate on painting & sculpture. After spending time in Spain & the South of France, they returned permanently to Australia in 1975. In their ceramic work, they used earthenware and terracotta clays to make wheel-thrown functional & sculptural forms glazed & finely decorated using sgraffito techniques & medieval imagery.