Malcolm Morley
S.S. Independence with Cote d'Azur, 1965
Born in London in 1931, Malcolm Morley lived in and around New York City from 1958 until his death in 2018. He is acknowledged as one of the earliest innovators of Superrealism, which developed as a counterpoint to Pop Art in the 1960s. Over the course of his distinguished career, Morley defied stylistic characterization, moving by turns through so-called abstract, realist, neo-romantic, and neo-expressionist painterly modes, while being attentive to his own biographical experiences. Morley studied at the Camberwell College of Arts and the Royal College of Art. Since his first New York show in 1964, he had numerous exhibitions in Europe and North America and participated in many international surveys including Documenta 5 (1972) and Documenta 6 (1977). His first retrospective, organized in 1983 by the Whitechapel Art Gallery, travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Brooklyn Museum. In 1984, he was awarded the inaugural Turner Prize.
Subsequent noteworthy presentations of Morley’s work include an exhibition of watercolors at Tate Liverpool, which travelled to the Kunsthalle Basel, Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, and the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY (1991-92); a retrospective at the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1993); an exhibition organized by Fundación La Caixa, Madrid, which travelled to the Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (1995-96); a retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London (2001); and the survey “The Art of Painting” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (2006). Other notable exhibitions include “Malcolm Morley in a Nutshell: The Fine Art of Painting 1954-2012” at the Yale School of Art (2012), an exhibition exploring the role of paper in Morley’s art-making process at the Parrish Art Museum (2012-13), and an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, organized in collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation (2013-14). Most recently, the Hall Art Foundation’s Schloss Derneburg presented a solo exhibition of his work (2017-18). In addition to the Turner Prize, Morley was awarded the Painting Award from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1992 and the Francis J. Greenburger Award in 2015. He was inducted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2011). Morley became a citizen of the United States in 1991. His work can be found in museum collections worldwide. After his debut at Sperone Westwater in 1999, he had solo exhibitions at the gallery in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2018.
Downloadables
Malcolm Morley
YM60, 2014
oil on linen with paper and metal attachments
40 x 50 x 9 inches (101,5 x 127 x 23 cm)
42 x 52 x 10 inches (107 x 132 x 25 cm) frame
SW 15099
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Malcolm Morley
English Fighter Pilot (Ace), 2010
oil on linen
45 1/2 x 58 inches (115,6 x 147,3 cm) 47 1/2 x 60 inches (120,7 x 152,4 cm) frame
SW 11052
Collection of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Malcolm Morley
Beautiful Explosion, 2010
oil on linen
45 1/2 x 58 inches (115,6 x 147,3 cm)
47 3/8 x 60 1/8 inches (120,3 x 152,7 cm) frame
SW 11001
Hall Collection
Malcolm Morley
Theory of Catastrophe, 2004
oil on linen
76 x 81 inches (193 x 205,7 cm)
77 1/2 x 82 1/2 inches (196,9 x 209,6 cm) frame
SW 04218
Hall Collection
Malcolm Morley
Rat Tat Tat, 2001
oil on linen
94 x 197 inches (238,8 x 500,4 cm)
SW 01113
Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Malcolm Morley
Painter's Floor, 1999
oil on linen with diamond chips
95 x 95 inches (241,3 x 241,3 cm)
SW 99169
Collection of Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Malcolm Morley
Approaching Valhalla, 1998
oil on linen
102 x 79 1/2 inches (259 x 201,9 cm)
103 1/4 x 80 7/8 inches (262,3 x 205,4 cm) frame
SW 98175
Collection of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
Malcolm Morley
Floundering Vessel with Blue Whales and Viking Ships, 1998
oil on linen
102 x 79 1/2 inches (259 x 201,9 cm)
103 1/2 x 81 inches (262,9 x 205,7 cm) frame
SW 98263
Collection of Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Malcolm Morley
Mariner, 1998
oil on linen
116 x 148 inches (294,6 x 375,9 cm)
117 1/2 x 149 inches (298,5 x 378,5 cm) frame
SW 98299
Collection of Tate, London
Malcolm Morley
Gypsy, 1992
oil on canvas
78 x 109 inches (198,1 x 276,9 cm)
Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art
Malcolm Morley
Albatross, 1985
oil on canvas
79 x 90 inches (200,5 x 228,5 cm)
Collection of Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
Malcolm Morley
The Day of the Locust, 1977
oil on canvas
149 1/8 x 90 5/8 inches (239,3 x 199,5 cm)
Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Malcolm Morley
Disaster, 1972-74
oil on canvas with knife and pieces of rubber
72 x 84 inches (182,9 x 213,4 cm)
Collection Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Malcolm Morley
Beach Scene, 1968
acrylic on canvas
110 x 89 7/8 inches (279,4 x 228,2 cm)
Collection of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Malcolm Morley
Vermeer, Portrait of the Artist in his Studio, 1968
acrylic on canvas
105 x 87 inches (266,7 x 221 cm)
Collection of The Broad, Los Angeles
Malcolm Morley
S.S. Independence with Cote d'Azur, 1965
oil on canvas
39 5/8 x 50 inches (100,6 x 127 cm)
40 5/8 x 50 5/8 x 1 inches (103,2 x 128,6 x 2,5 cm)
Collection of Detroit Institute of Arts
Exhibitions
Summer Exhibition
Sperone Westwater, New York
7 July – 9 September 2006
Malcolm Morley
Sperone Westwater, New York
20 February – 20 March 1999
Drawings
Chia, Clemente, Cucchi, Mariani, Morley, Salle, Schnabel
Sperone Westwater, New York
19 September – 17 October 1981
