Doris Lucy Eleanor Bloomfield Boyd (; 20 November 1888 – 13 June 1960) was an Australian artist, painter and ceramicist.

Early life

Doris Boyd was the youngest of six children, born to Victorian Naval Forces Lieutenant Thomas Bunbury Gough and Evelyn Anna Walker Gough (''née'' Rigg). Victorian Navy (AWM 300032)

Doris grew up in an unusual household, in which her mother's buoyant spirit, radical politics and

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...

faith contrasted with her father's conservative background and temperament. Her family line ran directly back to Thomas Bunbury Gough, a Dean of Derry, brother to the great soldier Hugh Gough, the 1st Viscount Gough. Bunbury Gough was a Lieutenant in the

Victorian Navy Before Federation in 1901 five of the six separate colonies maintained their own naval forces for defence. The colonial navies were supported by the ships of the Royal Navy's Australian Station which was established in 1859. The separate colonie ...

between 1885 and 1888, a high rank at the time. As Lieutenant, he was in charge of running the when the Commander was not on board. Outside of his naval career in Victoria, he worked variously as a merchant, as an insurance agent, and as a commission agent, as did his father-in-law. Evelyn was co-proprietor of ''The Sun: A Society Courier''. Doris Gough studied under Bernard Hall and Frederick McCubbin 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 ...

where she met

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

, a fellow student and potter. Boyd came from a background of artists who collectively formed the Boyd family. In 1915, she married Boyd, and together they raised five children: Lucy, Arthur (painter, ceramics), Guy (pottery, sculpture), David (pottery, painting) and Mary.

Career

Doris decorated many of Merric Boyd's works between 1920 and 1930. These were mostly pieces for domestic use, featuring Australian flora and fauna. Boyd's Murrumbeena studio and his pottery were destroyed by fire in 1926. With a strong faith in

, Doris influenced her husband, an epileptic, to convert in his latter years. She died on 13 June 1960, nine months after Merric. They are buried side by side at Brighton General Cemetery, Caulfield South, Victoria, Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Doris 1889 births 1960 deaths Australian women painters 20th-century Australian painters 20th-century Australian women artists Doris Burials in Victoria (Australia) National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni