Sworders
Lot 283
A tile-top coffee table, 1950s, in the manner of Arthur Boyd for Murrumbeena Pottery, fitted with fifteen chequer-painted tiles in blue and yellow, with musical instruments, signed 'Boyd', raised on a metal stand with a wood base board, 77.5cm wide 47.5cm deep30cm highArthur Boyd was born at Murrumbeena, Victoria, Australia, on 24 July 1920, the son of the potter, sculptor, and painter, Merric Boyd, and a member of a family of successive artists. He left school at the age of 14 to begin a career in painting, but after his father's studio burnt down, Boyd took night classes at the National Gallery School, Melbourne, whilst also living and painting with his grandfather, the artist Arthur Merric Boyd.With the outbreak of the Second World War, Boyd was conscripted and served in the Army Survey Corps from 1941 to 1944. After the war, he established the Arthur Merric Boyd Pottery Workshop at Murrumbeena, with John Perceval and Peter Herbst. Deeply affected by his wartime experiences, he turned to the Bible for inspiration in his work, and as a means of expressing something of the horror of conflict. During the 1950s, he travelled to Central Australia and his work turned to landscapes; in particular he painted poetic views of the luminous Wimmera landscape. In 1957, he began his milestone Half-Caste Bride series of paintings, raising contentious issues on Australia's racial divide and the treatment of indigenous peoples.He gave a large collection of paintings, drawings, prints, as well as sculptures, ceramics, and tapestries, to the National Gallery of Australia in 1975.Condition ReportFour tiles cracked and with some scuffs and chips to the paint.The vendor bought this from a property in Hampshire.
