Robert Murray, Hillary, 1983
Robert Murray, Hillary, 1983, painted aluminum, 167.6 x 467.4 x 650.2 cm, Collection of Grounds For Sculpture, Gift of The Seward Johnson Atelier, Hamilton Township, New Jersey. Photo credit: Robert Murray.
The bright yellow sculpture, Hillary, 1983, was inspired by the asymmetry of topography, the curves of rivers and mountain ranges, the undulations of fields and hills, and the gestures of the land that Murray has witnessed while flying his own plane. A flying enthusiast since childhood, the sculptor served in the Royal Canadian Air Force reserves in high school and obtained his pilot’s license in his early thirties. Hillary exemplifies not only Murray’s increasing mastery of fabrication, but also his ongoing investigation of landscape as an inspiration for abstract sculpture. It consists of an undulating plate of metal lightly touching the ground at one corner, while two vertical bases provide additional support.
Gallery
Painted steel, 243.8 cm, Collection of City Hall, Saskatoon. Photo credit: Robert Murray.
Robert Murray, Ferus, 1963, painted steel, 360.8 x 111 x 56 cm, Collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 1999 (40049). Photo credit: Robert Murray.
Left to right: Robert Murray, Marker, 1964, painted steel, 220.8 x 53.5 x 88 cm, Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966 (66.3708); Robert Murray, Montauk, 1964, painted steel, 274.3 cm high, location unknown; Robert Murray, TO, 1963, painted aluminum, planar column 275 cm high, tubular column 271.1 cm high, Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Gift from the Junior Women’s Committee Fund, 1966, 65/60.1-.2. © Robert Murray; Robert Murray, Adam and Eve, 1962–63, bronze, 109.1 x 16 x 15 cm, Collection of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 1970 (16622). © Robert Murray; Robert Murray, Chief, 1964, painted steel, 231.4 cm high, Collection of Frank Stella. Photograph by Robert Murray.