William Merric Boyd, known more as Merric Boyd (24 June 1888 – 9 September 1959), was an Australian artist, active as a ceramicist, sculptor, and in extensive chronicling of his family and surroundings in pencil drawing. He has been called the

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

of Australian

studio pottery Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur ceramists working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs, especially those that are not intended for daily use as crockery. Typically, all stages of manufacture are ...

. The

Boyd family The Boyd family is an Australian family whose members over several generations contributed to the arts in the fields of painting, sculpture, pottery, Ceramic art, ceramics, literature, architecture, poetry and music. The Boyd family is consi ...

of many generations includes painters, sculptors,

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and other arts professionals, starting with Boyd's parents

Arthur Merric Boyd Arthur Merric Boyd (19 March 1862 – 30 July 1940) was an Australian painter. He and his wife Emma Minnie Boyd, Emma Minnie (Given name#Name at birth, née à Beckett) established a lifestyle of being artists, which many generations followed t ...

and

Emma Minnie Boyd Emma Minnie Boyd (23 November 1858—13 September 1936), born Emma Minnie à Beckett, was an Australian artist. Boyd exhibited publicly between 1874 and 1932. She showed with the Victorian Artists Society, the Centennial International Exhibiti ...

. Boyd's brothers were Penleigh, a landscape artist, and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

, a writer. He and his wife, Doris, raised the painters

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

and

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, and sculptor Guy. Their eldest daughter, Lucy, was a ceramic painter.

Background

The second of five children of Arthur Merric Boyd (1862–1940) and Emma Minnie à Beckett (1858–1936), both established painters, Merric Boyd was born on 24 June 1888 in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of St Kilda, in Victoria. Arthur Merric Boyd and family were supported financially by Merric's maternal grandmother Emma à Beckett. It was Emma's fortune, inherited from her father John Mills, an ex-convict who founded the Melbourne Brewery, that allowed their family to live "comfortably". Boyd lived in

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

where he was educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

until he was eight. The family moved permanently to the family farm at

Yarra Glen Yarra Glen is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 55 km north-east from Melbourne, Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges Local government areas of Victoria ...

and Boyd attended Dookie Agricultural College with aspirations of turning his hand to farming; then he considered entering the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as a clergyman, spending time studying at

St John's Theological College, Melbourne St John's Theological College, Melbourne was an Australian educational institution in Melbourne, established in 1906 and closed in 1919. It trained candidates for ordination in the Church of England in Australia. History The college took over bu ...

; later supplying Martin Boyd with material for his award-winning 1955 novel, ''

A Difficult Young Man ''A Difficult Young Man'' (1955) is a novel by Australian writer Martin Boyd. It is the second in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises '' The Cardboard Crown'', ''A Difficult Young Man'', '' Outbreak of Love'' and '' When Blackbirds ...

''.

Career

In 1908 at Archibald McNair's Burnley Pottery, Boyd threw his first pot. Boyd set up a studio workshop on his home property at Murrumbeena and pottery kilns were established there in 1911 with the support of his family. He studied under Lindsay Bernard Hall and

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

at the

National Gallery School The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, associated with the National Gallery of Victoria, was a private fine arts college founded in 1867 and was Australia's leading art school of 50 years. It is also referred to as the 'National Gallery S ...

, where he took up ceramics as a path to sculpture, but settled on pottery as his medium. He held his first exhibition of stoneware, fired in McNair Bros kiln, at the Centreway in Melbourne in 1912, and his second exhibition at Besant Lodge soon afterwards."Merric Boyd–Australian Potter", ''The Home : an Australian quarterly'', Vol. 2 No. 4, 1 December 1921, p. 60 In 1915 he married Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Gough, a fellow student and painter, and they settled at Murrumbeena. Before enlisting for WW1, Boyd was employed by Hans Fyansch of the Australian Porcelain Works, Yarraville. Boyd joined the

Australian Flying Corps The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was the branch of the Australian Army responsible for operating aircraft during World War I, and the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The AFC was established in 1912, though it was not until ...

but was discharged later in England before returning to Australia in September 1919. Before doing so, he undertook six months training in pottery technique at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, Stoke-on-Trent, studying a diploma under Dr. Mellor at Stoke Technical School, and kiln construction under Mr. S. T. Wilson, former President of the English Ceramic Society. Boyd's best works were produced between 1920 and 1930; mostly pieces for domestic use, often decorated by Doris, and some pottery sculptures. He and Doris often used Australian flora and fauna as decorative motifs, their concession to creating works that would sell well. The Boyd's Murrumbeena pottery was destroyed by fire in 1926. Boyd worked commercially and was able to provide for his family as he and Doris raised painters

and

, and sculptor Guy and their two daughters Lucy and

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

. Mary, the youngest, married artists

John Perceval John de Burgh Perceval AO (1 February 1923 – 15 October 2000) was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members includ ...

, and later

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of the leading Australian artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of media, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

. Subject to

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

, and somewhat of a recluse in his latter years with a strong interest in Christianity, Merric Boyd died at his home at Murrumbeena on 9 September 1959. His wife, Doris, died within the same dwelling alone nine months later. They were buried side-by-side at Brighton General Cemetery.

References

External links

Jug 1933 Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.
Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic)
Merric Boyd and the Boyd Family at Murrumbeena
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Merric Australian ceramicists 1888 births 1959 deaths Merric 20th-century ceramists People educated at St John's Theological College, Melbourne Artists from Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni Burials at Brighton General Cemetery

Background

Career

See also

References

External links