Melbourne born Kempf studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and in Austria and Italy. While in the UK he worked as a film designer with Richard Macdonald and was associated with Peter Blake, Joe Tilson, Ceri Richards and Keith Vaughan.
From 1973 to 1981 Kempf was Senior Lecturer in printmaking at the University of South Australia and he has been a Guest Lecturer at the Slade School of Fine Art, the University of London, the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland; Gloucester College of Art, United Kingdom and has participated in over 90 one man invitation exhibitions in America, China , Germany, Israel and Poland.
In 1964 Kempf was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society UK and in December 2002 he was awarded The Member of the Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the Arts. In 2006 he was the subject of a documentary film.
The book featured a forward by Dr Alan Krell of UNSW. There is an excellent informative biographical essay by John Neylon entitled ‘Catching The Light” that analyzes Kempf’s life and work, examining the various media he uses and looking at the various symbols in his work and the use of the diamond as a metaphor.
Neylon’s essay also asks what qualities give Kempf’s work a distinct esoteric identity within the Australian art world.
Professor Sasha Grishin has described Kempf as, ‘an artist whose work presents both a striking continuity throughout a career which has stretched over half a century, and he is an artist whose work presents evidence for constant rejuvenation and reinvention.
“As a humanist, the concern for man lies at the centre of his universe and the dilemma of being is the central preoccupation. However, the human presence in Kempf’s art is not something which is treated as unproblematic, something to be recorded and to be described literally.
“For Kempf to be human is something to be celebrated and the artist adopts an ethical stance in his defence of human dignity. Throughout a series of metaphors, symbols and allegories in a sombre and profound manner he commemorates the miracle of being and condemns all that is oppressive and coercive.”
Described as both visual and multi -layered , Kempf’s work reveals great emotion and historical breadth. Kempf has worked with and in an assortment of media, methods and styles including etching , lithographs , monotype , paint, print, screenprint and woodcut.
We follow aspects of Kempf’s journey through a world of darkness and light, vivid imagination, tumultuous upheaval, of death, war and national disaster.
Major works included are The Outrageous Has Become Commonplace (2003), for which Kempf was awarded the 2013 Blake Prize for Human Justice. Also, The Jerusalem Tapestry (1994), a collaboration with the Victorian Tapestry Workshop is featured.
Most of the book, however, consists of illustrations of Kempf’s extraordinary work, bright, bold and colourful. There are some portraits ( ranging from The Charlady to Reg Livermore) and still lives ( eg Flowerpiece ) and landscapes ( Trees Ascend in the Western Light ) as well as some Cubist like abstract work (eg On A Summer’s Day , or Interior).
Some are ominous and dark ,others are more lyrical and luminous. Also included are biographical photos detailing Kempf;’s life and family. The endpapers consist of newspaper clippings of various reviews and articles about Kempf.
An excellent Table of Contents is available at the start of the book and at the back there is a most useful list of bibliographical references and resources such as a list of essays and reviews written about Kempf , a list of the various works in the exhibition and other academic acknowledgements.
Franz Kempf Aspects Of A Journey 1947-2016
Published by Wakefield Press
ISBN 9781743054260
Dewey Number 759.994
Libraries Australia ID 57392542
Franz Kempf Aspects Of A Journey 1947-2016
Published by Wakefield Press
ISBN 9781743054260
Dewey Number 759.994
Libraries Australia ID 57392542
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