5 Malakoff Street, North Caulfield, Vic, 3161 Telephone: (61 3) 9509 9855 Facsimile: (61 3) 9509 4549 Email: [email protected] Website: www.diggins.com.au ABN.19006 457 101

L A U R A I N E · D I G G I N S · F I N E · A R T

PENLEIGH BOYD 1890 – 1923 (Point King, Portsea) 1922 watercolour on paper 63 x 85 cm signed lower left: 22

Provenance: Mr James Russell, Ballarat Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, 1983 private collection,

Exhibited: Selected Australian Works Of Art, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, October 1983, cat. no. 45 Drawn: Following the Line, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 3 May – 28 June 2014

Penleigh Boyd, a member of the artistic , is highly regarded as a watercolour artist of great ability. This work shows Penleigh Boyd’s accomplished handling of the effects of light and his talent as a colourist, with the shift of delicate blues and purples giving the work a still, calm and contemplative feel. The viewer is anchored by the shoreline in the foreground and the eye floats out over the vista of the Bay, following the jetty on Point King beach, to the subtle horizon line and the glowing clouds. Boyd’s skill with watercolour is clear in this large-scale work, especially the technique of scoring the paper to create the white wave crests breaking along the shore. 5 Malakoff Street, North Caulfield, Vic, 3161 Telephone: (61 3) 9509 9855 Facsimile: (61 3) 9509 4549 Email: [email protected] Website: www.diggins.com.au ABN.19006 457 101

L A U R A I N E · D I G G I N S · F I N E · A R T

Theodore Penleigh Boyd was the son of (1862 – 1940, artist) and Emma Minnie Boyd (1858 – 1936, artist); brother to William Merric Boyd (1888 – 1959, potter); father to (1919 – 1971, architect) and uncle to Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (1920 – 1998, artist).

He studied at the National Gallery of Victoria art school until 1909 and travelled to London in 1911 where is work was exhibited at the Royal Academy. He travelled in Italy and France and held a studio in Paris where he was friendly with Phillips Fox. He married in Paris in 1912 and returned to Melbourne in 1913. He was awarded the Wynne Prize for Landscape, Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1914 and held an exhibition that year including images of his home in Warrandyte. In 1915 he joined the Imperial Australian Forces, returning in 1918 and suffering the effects of being badly gassed at Ypres. He held solo exhibitions of his paintings and watercolours in 1920, 1921 and 1922, quickly becoming a sought after artist who was known for his use of colour and his depictions of landscape. He was tragically killed in a car accident in 1923.

His work is represented in major public collections including the National Gallery of ; the National Gallery of Victoria; the Art Gallery of New South Wales and significant corporate collections including the CBUS collection.

Several members of the Boyd family painted the Mornington Peninsula, including at Portsea.