Nina Murdoch was born in 1970 in the United Kingdom, and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and at the Royal Academy Schools.
Murdoch has developed a painstaking technique resembling that of the early Renaissance, of 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. Her earlier work still featured some human presence, but recent work has focused on the geometry of the play of light and shade in these urban settings, which draws attention to the abstract character of her compositions. The laborious procedure that she favours, and the size of her paintings, means that she can scarcely complete more than ten paintings a year.
She is the winner of London’s first ever Threadneedle Street Award for figurative artists in 2008.
SOLO EXHIBITONS
2011
- Shedding Light, Marlborough Fine Art, London
2009
- In the Dark, Fine Art Society, London
2007
- Concrete Fields, Fine Art Society, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015
- British Landscapes, Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
2010
- The Scottish Summer Exhibition, Flemming Wyfold Foundation
- City Living, Somerset House
COLLECTIONS
- Barclays Capital
- Gartmore Investment Management Ltd
- Hiscox plc
- Mercury Asset Management
- Unilever
- Land Securities
- Flemings-Wyfold Art Foundation
- Slade School of Fine Art
- David Roberts Foundation
- Quo Vadis
