Andrew MURRAY

1917 – 1998

Paintings and etchings - Naïve art

Andrew (James Jowett) MURRAY in his Cape Town studio, 1966, finishing "A cricket match at Newlands" shown at Gallery 101 Johannesburg in 1966

Brief C.V.

Andrew James Jowett MURRAY was born on 14^th January, 1917 in Tientsin, China, the son of a missionary; he took a M.A. at Oxford; when WW2 broke out, he joined the Royal Navy (1940-1945). In 1946, he came to South Africa from Britain, married Beryl Halsall in Durban; moved to Cape Town in 1950 and was news editor of Cape Town's Catholic weekly The Southern Cross for a number of years. In 1956 he started painting, considering himself to be self-taught; from 1966 to 1970, he operated a Gallery in Cape Town (The Dorp Street Studio); by 1969 he became full-time painter. In 1970 he moved to London; until 1973 he painted in London, Seville, Paris, Perugia and Nice. He showed at various times at the Portal Gallery, which was then at 16A Grafton St., London WC1.

He died in London on 11^th October, 1998 (see fuller C.V. and obituary in The Independent, London)

Selected Solo Exhibitions in South Africa

1963 Henry Lidchi Art Gallery, Cape Town – 17^th to 31^st December, 1963 (“The happy world of Andrew Murray as depicted in 40 paintings”) (opened by May Hillhouse)

1965 Gallery Shear, Cape Town

1965 Grosvenor House, Stellenbosch Museum, Stellenbosch

1966 Gallery 101, Johannesburg – 26^th September to 7^th October, 1966 (opened by Desmond McLoughlin)

1968 Dorp Street Studios, Cape Town – June, 1968 (5^th solo show)

1974 Die Kunskamer, Cape Town – 30^th July, 1974 (opened by Prof. Martin Versveld)

2007 SA National Gallery, Cape Town (Works by Andrew Murray, presented by Desmond McLoughlin) (January – December)

Selected works in Public Collections in South Africa and abroad

SA National Gallery, Cape Town

William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley

Hester Rupert Museum, Graaff-Reinet

Rembrandt Art Foundation, Stellenbosch

MIDAN Musée International d’Art Naïf, Vicq / Paris

« L’embarquement » undated - oil/canvas - 65x50 cm - Coll. MIDAN Musée International d’Art Naïf, Vicq nr. Paris

Selected Paintings

The solo show at Gallery 101, Johannesburg, in 1966 included the following work:

“Op die Plaas”

In 1975, Madame Haenggi Gallery, Hollard Street, Johannesburg, kept works by Andrew Murray in stock, including the following work:

"Musician", 1975 (one of the few dated paintings)

Two paintings (nos. 263 and 264) offered by Julian Simon Fine Art, London, in 2009

"The Painter"

Selected works on auction

"Eve in the Garden of Eden"  oil/board - 40x47 cm - Strauss & Co. - 26th September, 2011 - Lot 194

"The Annunciation" oil/board - 33x46.5 cm - Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town - 1st October, 2013 - Lot 140

"Garden Cat" - acrylic on board - 41x31.5 cm - Bernardi Auctioneers, Pretoria - 8th February, 2016 - Lot 125

Selected Publications

ARTLOOK 12, Johannesburg, November, 1967, p. 14, ill.

ARTLOOK 19, Johannesburg, June, 1968, p. 15, ill.

Please click on image for a better view! (PDF)

"S.A. Kuns / S.A. Art" ("Twentieth Century South African Art") (Human & Rousseau, 1966) (Bokhorst/Martienssen), ill. 78, p. 105

"Art & Artists of South Africa" (Berman) (Balkema), 1983, pp.108, 293, 450, ill. pp.292 + 450 - ISBN 0 86961 144 5

"The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors including Namibia" (Ogilvie) (Everard Read), 1988, p.469 - ISBN 0 620 12663 9

Selected Press comments in South Africa

News/Check, Johannesburg – 13^th March, 1964, p. 37 (“The Red House”, ill)

Financial Gazette, Johannesburg – 7^th October, 1966

Short-lived Gallery activities in Cape Town between 1966 and 1970

 Andrew Murray’s short-lived Gallery in Cape Town (slide taken in October, 1970: ©THF archives)

Uploaded on 10th February, 2016

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