Murray Griffin

Who was Murray Griffin?

Vaughan Murray Griffin was an Australian print maker and painter. Commonly known as Murray Griffin, he was born in Malvern, Melbourne, Victoria to parents Vaughan and Ethel Griffin. Griffin spent most of his life living in the Eaglemont and Heidelberg area in Melbourne although he travelled around country Victoria to paint and draw. Although Griffin produced an extensive body of landscape paintings as well as portraits, he is best known for his printmaking where he was heavily influence by Japanese woodcuts. A number of these prints are discoverable on the National Gallery of Australia database.

Griffin trained at the National Gallery Art School in Melbourne from 1919 to 1923. A highly respected teacher, Griffin taught at art at Scotch College and drawing and teaching at RMIT.

He was appointed an official war artist in 1942. He was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore and sent to Changi prison where he was incarcerated for over three years. He continued to draw, sketch and paint during this period and the Australian War Memorial holds an extensive collection of his work. Griffin returned to homeland Australia in 1945.

From 1946 - 1953 he was a teacher of drawing at the National Gallery Victoria School and then he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Art at RMIT from 1954 - 1968.