MURCH, ARTHUR (1902-1989)

“Mother & Child” (c.1950)
Oil on board
60 x 50cm
Signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Murch was an acclaimed, award-winning Australian Modernist. He was a prolific painter and protégé of influential George Washington Lambert. He studied painting under Antonio Dattilo Rubbo and sculpture under Rayner Hoff at East Sydney Technical College. He also studied at the Acadamie Julian in Paris, before he became studio assistant to George Lambert as the senior artist who worked on his memorial for the recumbent soldier at St Mary’s Cathedral. He first exhibited at Macquarie Galleries in 1933, winning numerous awards, including the Archibald Prize in 1949. He was also an official war artist. Later in his career he travelled to Hermannsberg to paint local Aboriginal families and also taught at the Royal Art Society & East Sydney Technical College. His works are represented in most National Galleries and Important Private Collections, particularly the Art Gallery Of NSW.