Morley, Malcolm (1931– ) British painter, born in London. He became interested in painting whilst he was in prison (he served a three-year sentence for house-breaking) and then studied at Camberwell School of Art, 1952–3, and the Royal College of Art, 1954–57. At this period he was deeply interested in American Abstract Expressionism, and in 1958 he settled in New York. Whilst working as a waiter he met his hero Barnett Newman, who gave him advice and encouragement. In the 1960s he turned from abstract to figurative work and became one of the pioneers of Superrealism (a term he coined).
He emphasized the photographic source by including the white borders of the image, most famously in his expansion of a reproduction of Vermeer's painting of the artist in his studio. He commented in 2007 that ‘basically painting from a reproduction was painting a still life, because the image itself on paper still has three dimensions (including the edge)’. The paintings were constructed by dividing the original image into a series of cells and copying them. He has said that ‘the less information there is in the cell, the more painting invention occurs in the corresponding place in the canvas’.
Therefore his procedure is to avoid cells which are too large because then the painting becomes too literal, as the artist is distracted by too much information. From about 1970, however, his paintings became increasingly loose in handling, often depicting animals in lush landscapes. In his more recent work he has returned to his Superrealist manner. In spite of the apparent impersonality of his method there is sometimes a strong level of political motivation behind his subject matter.
Race Track (1970, Ludwig Collection) was a protest against the apartheid system in South Africa. Wall Jumpers (2002, Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg) reflects the Middle East conflict. In 1984 Morley was the first winner of the Turner Prize, awarded for ‘the greatest contribution to art in Britain in the previous twelve months’. The decision caused much controversy because he had for so long been resident in the USA. Bibliography Further Reading South Bank Centre, The Painting of Modern Life (2007)
How to cite this entry: "Morley, Malcolm" A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art by Ian Chilvers and John Glaves-Smith. Oxford University Press Inc. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 1 February 2012
