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 profile
at the

{{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