Artist Database

South African abstract painter George Boys was born in Johannesburg in 1930. From 1949 to 1953, he studied at the Witwatersrand Technical College and later, became a lecturer at the Pretoria Art Centre. In 1962, he held his first solo exhibition at the Gunther Gallery, which reportedly sold out on the opening evening, and became a full-time artist in 1970. While his signature style was non-figurative abstraction, he often depicted Cosmos flowers against vast abstract landscapes and other scenes like figures and still lifes. He drew inspiration from Japanese calligraphy and was heavily influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian-born artist and art theorist who is credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art.

Boys represented South Africa at the 1965 São Paolo Biennale (Brazil) and the 1976 Athens Art Festival (Greece). He lived in and around Johannesburg until 1996 when he emigrated to New Plymouth, New Zealand, where he continued teaching and painting. His work can be found in many public and private collections.