Born Murrumbeena, Victoria, Australia. At the age of fourteen he attended night classes at the National Gallery of Victoria School, Melbourne. 1940 conscripted into the army, discharged 1943. 1944 formed a partnership with two others to establish the Arthur Merrick Boyd Pottery. 1959 moved to London. 1968 returned to Australia for some months, and since then has divided his time between his home in Suffolk and Australia. Solo exhibitions include a retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1962. Exhibits regularly with Fischer Fine Art, London and at the Australia Gallery, Melbourne. 1978 John Read directed BBC-ABC co-production film on Boyd 'A Man in Two Worlds'. Is represented in several public collections, but chiefly in the Australian National Gallery, Canberra, to which he presented a large collection of pastels, sculptures, ceramics, paintings and etchings, 1975. Represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, 1988. Painter of landscapes, both impressionist and expressionist, as well as erotic or fantasy subjects, biblical or mythological scenes.