Arthur and Ria Murch

Arthur Murch, artist, is best-known as a painter in a colourful cubistic style, but he was occupied with sculpture throughout his career. Murch trained at Dattilo-Rubbo’s school between 1921 and 1925; meanwhile, in sculpture his most important teacher was Rayner Hoff. It was his sculpture that won him the 1925 Travelling Art Scholarship, which he spent most profitably in Italy. Later, his chief mentor was George Lambert, whom he assisted in Sydney from 1927 to 1930. At that time, Lambert was weakened by remnant malaria, and he greatly valued Murch’s strength, calling him the ‘pocket Hercules’. They worked together on the figure for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in St Mary’s Cathedral, and Murch completed the Henry Lawson Memorial after Lambert died in 1930. Other works Murch produced around the period of his association with Lambert include the memorial to Thorburn Brailsford Robertson in Adelaide University, and the Macarthur Onslow Memorial Light Horse Trophy. In 1933 he travelled with a scientific expedition to Hermannsburg, and he returned to the mission the following year. Many of his paintings reflect his interest in Indigenous culture and practises. In the late 1930s he was in the UK, and worked on the wool pavilion at the Glasgow Empire Exhibition. In 1941 he won the competition to execute the memorial relief in honour of Dame Nellie Melba in the Sydney Town Hall. During World War 2 he was an official war artist in the Northern Territory, working in Darwin and around the Adelaide River. Perhaps because his father was a carpenter-builder and he himself trained as an engineer, Murch sculpted in all imaginable media including fibreglass, rubber, pottery, stitched felt applique and cement - the latter when restoring Norman Lindsay’s garden sculptures. He was a foundation member of the Australian Academy of Art; he won the Society of Artists’ Medal in 1935 and the Archibald Prize for 1949. The 1977 exhibition Project 19: Arthur Murch at the Art Gallery of New South Wales was the first major survey of Murch’s work by a public gallery. Now, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has many of his works; the Australian War Memorial has more than thirty of his paintings and drawings and he is represented in most Australian public galleries. The papers of Arthur Murch, collated by Ria Murch, are in the archive of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Ria Murch (1918-2014), writer and muse, was brought up in King’s Cross and attended the Thosophist school in Mosman before acquiring secretarial skills at Miss Hales Business College. She worked as a cadet journalist at 2UE before joining the Sun. In 1940, the strikingly attractive 22-year-old was writing a story about the Original Ballets Russes, and met artist Arthur Murch, who was drawing the dancers. The attraction was irresistible; they married in 1941 and moved to Waterview Street, Mona Vale, the ‘mad half-mile’ where artists, writers and poets lived. After Arthur Murch’s war service, they moved to Avalon, where they built a house together. In 1954, Ria returned to work, while Arthur looked after their two children. Both Ria and the children appear in Murch’s paintings. She wrote advertising and publicity copy and a guide to Australian wine; later, she arranged flowers professionally, and worked at an art gallery. She was also a talented photographer. In the 1980s, she supported Murch during his decline from Alzheimer’s disease; in 1989, she commenced work on Arthur Murch: An artist’s life (1997). Late in life, she was a tireless writer of letters-to-the-editor and a passionate advocate for the care of the Northern Beaches.

Margaret Michaelis photographed Arthur (in his army clothes) and Ria Murch in 1945 at 4 Delwood Close, Mona Vale. Delwood Close is a small street that ran off the ‘mad half mile’ in Waterview Street. Weaver Hawkins painted and drew here and Kate Grenville refers to the area in her book One Life. In October 1947 an article about the area featured in the journal Australia, with photographs by Margaret Michaelis.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015