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Vaughan Murray Griffin (11 Nov 1903 – 29 January 1992) was an Australian print maker and painter.
Life and work
Commonly known as Murray Griffin, he was born in the
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
suburb of
Malvern
Malvern or Malverne may refer to:
Places Australia
* Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide
* Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne
* City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne
* Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...
to Vaughan and Ethel Griffin. He spent most of his life living in the
Eaglemont and
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
area in Melbourne although he also travelled around country Victoria to paint and draw. He produced an extensive body of landscape paintings as well as portraits, but he is best known for his
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
, where he was heavily influenced by Japanese
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s. A number of these prints are on the
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
database.
Griffin trained at the
National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne from 1919 to 1923. He later taught art at
Scotch College (1936 to 1937) and drawing and teaching at
RMIT
RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia.
Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...
(1937 to 1940).
Griffin was appointed an official
war artist in 1941 to work with the
8th Australian Dvision in
Malaya. During his three months’ service there he completed pictures which were prepared for transport to Australia, but which did not leave the country, and are lost. He served in that theatre of war from November 1941until he was captured by the Japanese in February 1942 after the
fall of Singapore
The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire o ...
and incarcerated for three and a half years as a POW in
Changi Prison
Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.
History First prison
Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...
, in conditions slightly less harsh than many other Japanese camps. During his imprisonment he made a series of drawings recording his experiences and he exhibited them on his return. The
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
holds an extensive collection of this work, but in the exhibition ''Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture by Australian Official War Artists 1943-44'' a note explained that his self-portrait was "the only work of Murray Griffin that can be shown."
From 1946 to 1953 he was a teacher of drawing at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and then was Senior Lecturer in Art at RMIT from 1954 to 1968. He became known for his colour prints of birds and animals.
Griffin was influenced by
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...
and the teachings of
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...
. This passion resulted in a body of oil paintings and linocuts known as the Journey Series. This collection is currently held by
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...
.
Galleries
Griffin's works are held by:
* National Gallery of Australia
* Australian War Memorial
* National Gallery of Victoria
* State Library of Victoria
* Art Gallery of South Australia
* Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art
*
Castlemaine Art Museum
Castlemaine Art Museum is an Australian art gallery and museum in Castlemaine, Victoria in the Shire of Mount Alexander. It was founded in 1913. It is housed in a 1931 Art Deco neo-classical building constructed for the purpose, heritage-listed ...
* Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
* Warrnambool Art Gallery
* Geelong Art Gallery
* Newcastle Art Gallery
* Print Council of Australia
* The Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne
* Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne
* La Trobe University
* Federation University Art Collection
* Australian Embassy Washington
Exhibitions
* 1943, from 1 December; Inclusion in a group show of ninety-one paintings and etchings with
Arnold Shore
Arnold Joseph Victor Shore (5 May 1897, Windsor, – 22 May 1963, Melbourne) was an Australian painter, teacher and critic.
Biography
Shore was the youngest of seven children of John Shore, a coachsmith, and his wife Harriett Sarah, née McDon ...
,
Max Meldrum
Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwa ...
, John Rowell,
Jas. Quinn, John Farmer,
Mary Hurry,
Dora Serle
Dora Beatrice Serle (1875–1968), was an Australian painter. She was the president of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1933–1934.
Biography
Serle was born on 2 September 1875 in Melbourne, Australia.
She studied ...
, Margaret Pestell,
Dora Wilson
Dora Lynnell Wilson (31 August 1883 – 21 November 1946) was a British-born Australian artist, best known in her adopted country of Australia for her etchings and street scenes.
Early life
Dora Lynnell Wilson was born on 31 August 1883 in Newc ...
,
Isabel Tweddle
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba, Elisheva''), Arising in ...
,
Aileen Dent
Aileen Rose Dent (1890 – 30 March 1978) was an Australian artist known for her portraits, specifically her portrait of Australian aviator Jean Burns.
Biography
Dent was born in 1890 in Deniliquin, New South Wales. From 1909 to 1916 she was ...
,
Allan Jordan
Allan Holder Jordan (1898-1982) was an Australian painter, designer, printmaker and teacher.
Early life
Allan Jordon was born in 1898 in Elsternwick, the son of Sandhurst-born customs agent James Olver Jordan and Maud Ethel (née Alleyne) who m ...
, Geo. Colville, and Victor Cog.
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
Library.
Prizes and awards
*1923 - First prizes National Gallery School for Painting and Landscape painting
*1935 - Crouch prize for the oil painting ''Golden Barriers''
*1939 - F. E. Richardson prize for the linocut ''Spoonbill''
*1952 - Dunlop Prize (joint 2nd) for the oil painting ''Warrior''
*1957 - Maude Vizard-Wholohan Prize Art gallery of South Australia for the linocut ''Bird of Paradise''
*1976 - Henri Worland Memorial Art Prize Warrnambool Art gallery for the linocut ''Duck in Reeds''
*1990 - Victorian Artists Society Honour Medal for "outstanding contributions to art"
References
External links
Artist profileat the
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Murray
1903 births
1992 deaths
Australian printmakers
20th-century Australian painters
Australian prisoners of war
20th-century printmakers
World War II prisoners of war held by Japan
Australian Army personnel of World War II
Australian Army soldiers
People from Heidelberg, Victoria
Australian war artists
Artists from Melbourne
People from Malvern, Victoria
Military personnel from Melbourne
Scotch College, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria Art School alumni