Biography
Nina Murdoch is a British painter born in London in 1970. She trained at the Slade School of Fine Art (1989-93) and at the Royal Academy Schools (1993-96), and was the winner of the inaugural Threadneedle Prize (2008).
Murdoch’s work is characterised by a meticulous technique resembling that of the early Renaissance, 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. In her early work Murdoch began with figures, progressed to figures in landscape and has subsequently developed into inhabited landscapes devoid of people. Murdoch’s recent work has moved increasingly towards abstraction, with reference to the geometry of the play of light and shade in urban settings. In simplifying the subject matter, Murdoch has allowed room for the painting: in effect, the paint itself has assumed greater importance.