Pocket Guide -> Media -> Oil on linen -> Floundering Vessel with Blue Whales and Viking Ships
Floundering Vessel with Blue Whales and Viking Ships
by Malcolm Morley · British, born 1931
| Creation Date: | 1998 |
| Media & Support: | Oil on linen |
| Dimensions: | 102 x 81 ¼ inches |
| Credit: | Museum Purchase, The Shirle and William King Westwater Fund and donations made in memory of William King Westwater by his family and friends |
A quintessential postmodern artist, Malcolm Morley is credited with founding two contemporary art movements: Photorealism in the 1960s and neo-Expressionism in the 1980s. He traces his career-long fascination with boats to the loss of a favorite model ship when his childhood home was bombed in London in World War II. To create this enigmatic and playful work, Morley subjected a model boat to a two-hour soaking in the shower so he could pull it into the shape painted here. Many of Morley’s works, like this one, exude a sense of fun and irrepressible vitality.
