Brenda Niall: The Boyds: A family biography

By ELSPETH SANDYS

Australian artist Arthur Boyd will be a familiar name to many. Less familiar is his uncle, the writer Martin Boyd.

But these two luminaries are only part of the story of the achievements, over more than a century, of members of the Boyd family.

From its New Zealand origins, the Boyd family, in choosing art over commerce, has left its mark on Australian life.

Brenda Niall tells their story with insight and humour, focusing on the houses (only a few of which were in any way grand) to capture the extraordinary intensity and sheer fun of the creative life the Boyds chose to lead.

Niall's grasp of the social background of the family makes this a study not just of a family, but of a nation emerging from its convict past.

The source of the wealth that sustained the Boyds' artistic endeavours up till the middle of the last century was John Mills, ex-convict and successful brewer. John Mills' daughter Emma married the son of the Chief Justice of Victoria and they had six children, one of whom, Emma Minnie, married Dunedin-born Arthur Merric Boyd.

Emma Minnie was an accomplished artist, as was Arthur, and so a dynasty was born, devoted not to material things, but to things of the mind and spirit.

It's an amazing story. All the Boyds, certainly all those mentioned in this book, seem to share what has been described as "the Boyd innocence".

But when it comes to their work they can be tough. Arthur Boyd, whose gentleness and courtesy are the stuff of legend, would not compromise in matters relating to his painting.

Neither would his younger brother, David, whose canvases express his anguished concern for the Aboriginal people.

Concern for social justice and the truth of art is reflected in every generation of this remarkable family. The sculptor Guy Boyd, at a time when his work was receiving national and international recognition, all but abandoned sculpting when he took up the cause of Lindy Chamberlain, mother of baby Azaria, killed at Ayers Rock in 1980.

The campaign cost Guy dearly, both in time and money, and in the adverse effect the prolonged struggle had on his health.

Similar motives drove Robin Boyd, the celebrated architect, in his life and work. In a lecture broadcast by the ABC in 1967, Robin spoke of the vertical split in Australian society between the satisfied materialists and the restless creators. His vision of a cultural equilibrium has an immediate relevance to us in New Zealand as we debate the place of art and artists in our society.

Arthur Merric Boyd, with a tribe of children all dedicated to the artistic life, was probably sincere when he wished for just one ordinary, normal, commercial son. His wish wasn't granted, and his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren went on to paint and pot, to sculpt and write, to design houses and fight good causes, much enriching Australian life along the way.

Melbourne University Press

$79.95

* Gordon McLauchlan is a Herald columnist; Jenny Jones is an Auckland writer; Elspeth Sandys' latest novel is A Passing Guest.