Robert Gray Murray (born March 2, 1936) is considered by some to be Canada's foremost abstract sculptor. He also has been called the most important sculptor of his generation worldwide. His large outdoor works are said to resemble the abstract stabile style of Alexander Calder, that is, the self-supporting, static, abstract sculptures, dubbed "stabiles" by Jean Arp in 1932 to differentiate them from Calder's mobiles. Murray has stated that he focused on "trying to get sculpture back to its essential form". His work is like colour-field abstraction.

Biography Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he has lived in the United States since 1960. He began his career as a painter, studying at the Regina College School of Art (1956–1958). In 1957 he worked at the city planning office in Saskatoon and it commissioned a fountain sculpture from him: it was his first sculpture. He went to study at the Allende Institute, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (1958–1959), then worked at Saskatoon Technical Collegiate before attending an Emma Lake Artist's Workshop in 1959 with Barnett Newman with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Newman looked at his paintings and asked "Have you ever thought of sculpture?" He moved to New York City in 1960 on a Canada Council grant, and although he had never studied sculpture in the formal sense, began to produce modernist, elegant, brightly colored welded-metal constructions.

Murray's works often recall natural themes through shape, color, and of course, name; other works are named after people, places, or things in North America though of course, as Murray said:"With abstract art the piece is itself and what happens within the piece is the subject of the piece".

Murray's earliest sheet-metal sculptures were large-scale upright columnar configurations that were made by cutting and bending steel plates to form angles and corners. They were coloured with industrial finishes and created with the aid of fabricators. In 1974, Murray's sculptures became more freely formed than before, with more crenellated surfaces. Murray had a new concern with highly fluid curves that combined complexity of form with subtler colour. His ambition was to incorporate colour as a part of the metal.

Murray usually works to an architectural scale in his sculptures; they have no content but form. They can be viewed as belonging to a past aesthetic – Modernism – and lacking in contemporary relevance. But a reviewer of a recent show, Models, Paintings and Sculpture, much of it completed in the last three years, at Studio 21 Fine Art, Halifax, wrote that, when well executed, a Modernist like Murray can still make objects that achieve a "clarity and sureness that is somehow comforting".

Work in collections

United States

Alaska Nimbus, 1978, Alaska State Museum, Juneau

California Chinook, 1968, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley

Delaware Sioux, 1984, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

District of Columbia Marker, 1964–65, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington

Georgia Montauk, 1967, Adams Park Library, Atlanta,

Illinois Windhover, 1970, Hinsdale Junior High School, Hinsdale

Maine Pointe-au-baril III, 1995, collection of Cynthia Stroud, Brooklin

Massachusetts Quinnipiac, 1974, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Drawing after Quinnipiac, Seven Views, 1975, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Michigan Nordkyn, 1973–74, Ferry Mall, Wayne State University, Detroit Windhover, 1976, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids

Minnesota Taku, 1976, Honeywell Plaza, Minneapolis Track, 1965, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Nebraska Nanticoke, 1980, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln

New Jersey Hillary, 1983, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton Agulapak, 1974, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton

New York Chilkat, 1977, Metropolitan Museum, New York Megan's Red, SUNY, Fredonia Kiana, 1978, Storm King, Mountainville Spinnaker, 1979, JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York Siwash, Vassar Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poukeepsie Shawanagan, 1968, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York Spring, 1965, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Ohio Wasahaban/Claire, 1978, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus

Pennsylvania Saginaw, 1979, collection of the artist, West Grove, Pennsylvania Mandan, 1985, collection of the artist, West Grove, Pennsylvania Palestina, 1985, collection of the artist, West Grove, Pennsylvania Pattern, 1993–1996, collection of the artist, West Grove, Pennsylvania Pointe-au-baril II, 1995, collection of the artist, West Grove, Pennsylvania Bethany, 1981, collection of W. Dixon Stroud, West Grove, Pennsylvania Lillooet, 1985, collection of W. B. Dixon Stroud, West Grove, Pennsylvania

Wisconsin Windfall, 1966, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee

Canada

Alberta Dyad, 1967, University of Alberta, Edmonton

British Columbia Skagway, 1977, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna Cumbria, 1966, University of British Columbia, Vancouver La Guardia, 1968, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Ceres, 1962, J. A. and Mary Pyrch Collection, Victoria Juneau, 1977, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Kennebec, 1978, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Oneida, 1978, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Hillary, 1983, serigraph, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria Lennon Yellow, 1980, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria

Ontario TO, 1963, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Swing, 1974, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Ferus, 2001, Pointe au Baril Kawaatebiishing, 2003, Pointe au Baril Pointe au Baril II, 2003, Pointe au Baril Gap, 1973, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Huron, 1974, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Juneau, 1976, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Prairie, 1965–66, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Roll, 1973, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Sitka, 1976, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Split, 1973, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Togiak, 1974, Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Tundra (for Barnett Newman), 1972–73, Carleton University, Ottawa Haida, 1973, Dept. of External Affairs, Ottawa Adam and Eve, 1962–63, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Arroyo, 1968, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Breaker, 1965, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Burwash, 1970, ed. of 17, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Caldwell, 1973, lithograph, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Chilcotin, 1969, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Untitled, 1969, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Working Model for "Fountain Sculpture" 1959, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa and Drawing for Fountain Sculpture, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Trent Series I-10, 1981, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Lillooet, 2007, Snug Harbor Mbishkaad]/To Ascend, 2004, One King West, Toronto Becca's H, 1973, University of Toronto, Toronto Cascade, 1983, University College art collection, University of Toronto, Toronto Charybdis, 1962, Paul and Dinah Arthur, Toronto Ferus, 1963, Paul and Dinah Arthur, Toronto Lazarus 1961-2, Estate of Marie Fleming, Toronto Mesa (1967) Mr. and Mrs. David Mirvish, Toronto Arthabaska, 1966–67, Gallery Stratford, Stratford, Ontario

New Brunswick Nunc Dimittis, New Brunswick Museum, St. John

Saskatchewan Rainmaker, 1959–60, Saskatoon City Hall, Saskatoon Study for Saskatoon, 1976, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon

Not located Chief (1964) Bank (1968) Teal (1969) Garnet (1974) Magnetawan (1974) Tikchik (1974) Kodiak (1975) Seward (1976) Willow (1976) Alagash, 1978 Chesapeake (1980) Spinnaker (1980) Susquehana (1980) Pointe au Baril IX (2003) No Exit (2004) Ferus (model B) (2008)

References

Bibliography

External links Robert Murray: Sculpture Robert Murray fonds at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario