Nina Murdoch
“In a world where so much is demanding to be heard, Nina Murdoch commands our attention without ever raising her voice”
- Tony Parsons
Charity: Compassion in World Farming (CIWF)
Nina Murdoch is a British painter born in London in 1970. She trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1989-93) and at the Royal Academy Schools (1993-96), and was the winner of the inaugural Threadneedle Prize (2008).
Murdoch’s work is characterised by a meticulous technique resembling that of the early Renaissance, working in egg tempera on boards primed with gesso. Applying layers of translucent colour, sometimes scraping or sanding them down to apply further coats of paint, the surfaces of her paintings acquire a glowing richness of tones that responds to the light, and illuminate the often bare and mysterious street or architectural views that she chooses for her subjects. In her early work Murdoch began with figures, progressed to figures in landscape and has subsequently developed into inhabited landscapes devoid of people. Murdoch’s recent work has moved increasingly towards abstraction, with reference to the geometry of the play of light and shade in urban settings. In simplifying the subject matter, Murdoch has allowed room for the painting: in effect, the paint itself has assumed greater importance.
Education
Royal Academy Schools
Slade School of Fine Art
Prizes / Awards
2019 | ING Discerning Eye Purchase Prize
2008 | First Prize, Threadneedle Art Prize
1996 | Aeneas Travel Award to Italy
1994 | British Institution Fund Award
1993 | First Prize, Sir William Coldstream Competition, Slade School of Art
1993 | Landscape Award, David Murray Studentship
1983 | First Prize, National Gallery Children’s Competition
Select Solo Exhibitions
2018 | Collecting Colour, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2014 | Enlightenment, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2011| Shedding Light, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2009 | In The Dark, Fine Art Society, London
2007 | Concrete Fields, Fine Art Society, London
2005 | Art Projects, Art 2005 Business Design Centre, Islington
2002 | Nina Murdoch Paintings 1995-2001, Blue Gallery, London
2000 | New Paintings, Blue Gallery, London
1997 | New Paintings, Portland Street Gallery, London
Select Group Exhibitions
2019 | The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London. Invited by Sir Tim Rice
2016 | BRAFA Art Fair, Marauni Mercier Gallery
2016 | British Landscapes, Marauni Mercier Gallery, Brussels & Knokke (with Paul Morrison & George Shaw)
2015 | A Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2013 | Brussels Art Fair + Art Basel
2012 | Masterpiece, London
2010 | City Living, Somerset House
2010 | The Scottish Summer Exhibition, Fleming Wyfold Foundation
2008 | Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London + Basel Scope, Basel
2005 | Purdy Hicks Gallery, London
2006 | The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London. Invited by Stewart Pearson
2003 | Amplifying Silence, Magnifying Stillness, Guerlain Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris. Curated by Roy Exley
2004 | Urban Living Scenes of Contemporary Life, Fleming Collection, London
2001 | The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London. Invited by Robert Hiscox
1998 | Inaugural Exhibition, Hiscox PLC, London
1994 | Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London