Roger Kemp (1908-1987)

BIOGRAPHY
Born in Bendigo, Victoria, in 1908. A non-figurative painter known for his allegiance to symbolic, abstract forms, Kemp was predominantly self-taught, receiving some instruction at the national Gallery School and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in the early 1930s. A two-time winner of the Blake Prize for Religious Art, he exhibited regularly from the 1940s, having his first solo exhibition in 1945 at the Velasquez Gallery in Melbourne.

EXHIBITIONS
Has had many solo and group exhibitions both nationally and overseas, including a major show of etchings toured by the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1990.

AWARDS
Many awards and prizes, including:
1968 Blake Prize
1970 Blake Prize
1978 Awarded an OBE
1987 Order of Australia (OA)

COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia
Many state and regional collections
Artbank
Many corporate collections
Many private collections, in Australia, the UK and USA

REFERENCES
Bonython, K. Modern Australian Painting 1950-1975, Rigby Publishers, Sydney, 1980
Pearce, B. Parallel Visions: Works from the Australian Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2002