Edith Susan Boyd

Edith Susan Gerard Anderson (16 February 1880 – 31 March 1961), who became Edith Susan Boyd when she married, was an Australian artist, dramatist, and painter.^[1] She was also known for being a model for the artist Emanuel Phillips Fox, notably in his 1912 painting Nasturtiums.^[1][2]

Early life and family

Edith Susan Gerard Anderson was born on 16 February 1880 in Brisbane, Queensland.^[1] The name "Edith" came from her mother and the name "Gerard" from a Scottish grandmother.^[2]

She was the youngest child in her family. She was the daughter of

Anderson lived with the artist Emanuel Phillips Fox and his wife, Ethel Carrick, here Anderson modeling for Fox at their Paris studio-home in the Cité fleurie, 65 Boulevard Arago, nestled a little way south of the Luxembourg Gardens.^[1][2] He gave her painting lessons based on the impressionistic style that he learned when he attended the National Gallery School in Melbourne from 1878 until 1886 under G. F. Folingsby.^[2] Fox also helped set up her garden at her apartment.^[2]

Anderson met her husband, Australian painter Theodore Penleigh Boyd, during this trip to Paris.^[1] Fox introduced Boyd and Anderson when Boyd worked in a studio next door to Fox's.^[1]

Boyd described Anderson as "intelligent as well as beautiful…it was in nearly every way a perfect match."^{[6][unreliable source?]} They married in Paris on 15 October 1912; at their wedding, she was given away by Fox because of the close friendship the couple had with the painter.^[2] Notable guests at the Anderson-Boyd wedding include Rupert Bunny and Bessie Gibson.^[3] Following the marriage, Edith Susan Gerard Anderson changed her name to Edith Susan Boyd.^[7]

Life in Australia and life after Anderson's wedding

In 1912 following their wedding, Anderson and Boyd took their honeymoon to Chartres, Mentone, Rome, Florence, and Venice.^[2] In 1913, the couple then returned to Melbourne, Australia where their first child, Pamela Boyd, was born but died two weeks later.^[3]

In 1914, the couple moved to Warrandyte, where Penleigh Boyd built the couple a home studio, known as The Robins for Anderson and the children.^[8][3][2] Anderson gave birth to her second child John Beckett Boyd (1915–1980), most commonly known as Pat Boyd, in 1915.^[2][3]

In 1917, following the birth of Pat Boyd, Penleigh Boyd enlisted in the

Anderson had to assist Boyd following his return from war because he was

In 1922, Anderson and her family sold "The Robins" and moved to Sydney, Australia. Here Penleigh Boyd was hired by Sydney Ure Smith as one of the organizers of a major exhibition of contemporary European art. Because of this opportunity, Anderson and her family moved to England to select paintings for this exhibition, but Penleigh Boyd returned to Australia without Anderson in June 1923 because their marriage was tumultuous during this time.^[3][2]

During this separation, Boyd cheated on Anderson by having a brief affair with a Melbourne socialite Minna Schuler, who was the daughter of the editor of The Age.^[3][2]

Before Anderson and her children returned to Australia, Penleigh Boyd bought back "The Robins" and purchased a new

Following the death of Anderson's husband

Following her husband's death, she was left with money from his

Edith Susan Gerard Anderson attended the Slade School in London in 1905 and also lived in Paris, modeling for the artist Emanuel Phillips Fox.^[1] As a model, she was known for her bright red hair that is a focus of many of Fox's works.^[12] Fox was attracted to Anderson as a model "by her rich auburn hair and grey-green eyes—both fashionable at the time."^[13] Pictures of her have been described as "full of tender sympathy for the model."^[14] Many of the paintings that Anderson modeled for were painted in-situ in the small central courtyard located in the Fox studio-apartment on Boulevard Arago [fr] in Montparnasse.^[15] She appeared in up to seven possible paintings by this artist in 1912, including The green parasol, On the balcony, Nasturtiums, and Mrs. Penleigh Boyd.^[2] She also possibly appeared in The bathing hour in 1909.^[2]

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums is the most well-known piece of artwork that Edith Susan Gerard Anderson modeled for, possibly as early as September 1912.

After she married into the Boyd family Anderson continued her individual career in painting and drawing.^[1] She had previously exhibited a significant number of paintings in the 1910 Royal Queensland Art Society Exhibition.^[7]

Works

Notable works of Edith Susan Gerard Anderson include:

• Mary had a little lamb
• Mimi
• The song of the morrow
• Water colors
• Blue mountains
• Margaret
• Portrait
• Sunlight
• Highlander

Later life and death

In her later life, Anderson wrote several dramas that were staged by repertory companies, one being Three Roses, played by the Little Theatre in 1940,^[16] as well as radio plays for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.^[1]

She died in East Burwood, Australia on 31 March 1961. Three of Emmanuel Phillips Fox's portraits of Anderson are held by her family.^[1] However, Nasturtiums was re-purchased in 2011 at an auction by the Society of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, serving as a memorial to Margaret Olley, who was a Sydney painter and a patron of the gallery who died a few months earlier.^[17]

See also

• Marjorie Acker Phillips
• Australian art
• Caroline Bardua
• Hannah Cohoon
• Mary Gartside
• Henrietta Hamilton
• Maria Margaretha van Os
• María Tomasa Palafox, Duchess of Medine Sidonia
• Suzanne Valadon

Gallery

References