Malcom Morley (British, born 1931)
Morley was born in London in 1931 and did not discover painting until a brief stint in prison for theft. He studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts from 1952 to 1953 and then at the Royal College of Art from 1954 to 1957. He then left London for New York where he met abstract painter Barnett Newman (1905 to 1970). After experimenting with several styles of abstraction, Morley developed a ‘superrealist’ style in which his paintings were made to look like photographs. His early works were often based on postcards and travel brochures which later expanded into many leisure and sporting scenes. Morley controversially won the first Turner Prize in 1984.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries May 2008.