Sir Peter Edward Murray is the founder and executive director of

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barb ...

, now a sculpture venue with an international reputation.

Biography

He studied Fine Art and Education, teaching in General, Further and Higher Education. Until 1975 he exhibited frequently and has paintings, drawings and prints in several public and private collections. As Principal Lecturer in Art Education at Bretton Hall College, he founded

. He has contributed to International Sculpture Center conferences in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

. Recent lectures have included a major Art and Environment conference in Japan, a British Council lecture for the University of Tokyo and a major lecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Public interviews and lectures with artists have included Sir

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' and industrial objects. He began as a member of the modernist school, having worked with ...

, Phillip King and Nigel Hall. Some of the major exhibitions he has organised at Yorkshire Sculpture Park include

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

Elisabeth Frink Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the divine in ...

Lynn Chadwick Lynn Russell Chadwick, (24 November 1914 – 25 April 2003) was an English sculptor and artist. Much of his work is semi-abstract sculpture in bronze or steel. His work is in the collections of MoMA in New York, the Tate in London and th ...

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leadin ...

Eduardo Chillida Eduardo Chillida Juantegui (Basque: ''Eduardo Txillida Juantegi''; 10 January 1924 – 19 August 2002) was a Spanish Basque sculptor notable for his abstract works. Early life and career Born in San Sebastián (Donostia) to Pedro Chillida an ...

, William Turnbull,

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...

and

Andy Goldsworthy Andy Goldsworthy (born 25 July 1956) is an English sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculptures and land art situated in natural or urban settings. Early life Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire on 25 July ...

, which won the

South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

Award for Visual Arts. He has organised several overseas projects, including in 1996, a major Karl Prantl exhibition at Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck. In 1997, he was invited by the city of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

to organise a Phillip King retrospective at Forte de Belvedere, and in 1998 organised British Contemporary Sculpture at Schloss Ambras and New British Art at Kunstraum, Austria. In 2000, he organised a major Art and Landscape project at the Gut Holzhausen in Germany. In 2007, he curated Blickachesen 6 at

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...

, Germany which included 22 artists from 8 countries. He has written articles and reviews for art journals and other publications in the UK and overseas and has contributed to television and radio programmes related to the arts. He has been a judge for the Jerwood Sculpture Prize, the AXA Art/Art Newspaper Catalogue Award, the Northern Arts Prize and the McClleland Sculpture Award in Australia. At present he is an advisor to the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project Commission, which will be one of the biggest artworks in the UK.

Awards and honours

Murray was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1996,

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 2010, and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, all for services to the arts. In 1988, he was awarded the National Arts Collection Fund Award and in 1989 made Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art. was awarded an Honorary DSc from the University of Huddersfield. He was a member of the Board and Vice President of the International Sculpture Centre in the USA and has been a Trustee of the Marino Marini Museum in Florence, and is a Trustee of He has an honorary degree from the University of York (2014). He featured in the ''Sculpture Series Heads'', 12 terracotta portraits of contributors to British SculptureProfile
examiner.co.uk. September 2013. Accessed 3 July 2023. exhibited in 2013.

References

External links

* *Sculpture Series Heads - Terracotta Portraits of Contributors to British Sculpture (2013) Hall, P., Scott, M. & Pheby, H. , pages 22/23

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Peter Living people British art directors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Knights Bachelor