Malcolm Morley Retrospective at Hayward Gallery

A retrospective of Malcolm Morley's work was held at the Hayward Gallery in London from June 15 to August 27, 2001. The exhibition traced Morley's career from early abstract works, through his hyperrealist period, to later expressionist and model-inspired paintings. Early abstract pieces showed a tense relationship between neurotic drawing and formal constraints, while his hyperrealist phase, exemplified by 'SS Amsterdam, in front of Rotterdam' (1966), used a grid to paint images upside down. This period was short-lived, giving way to increasingly brutal and naive drawing. In the 1970s, Morley turned to disjointed figuration and disaster themes, approaching Johns and Rauschenberg. The 1980s saw a mannered, almost vulgar expressionism, with works like 'Seastroke' and 'Night on the Bald Mountain' using Pollock-like splatters as illustration. By the late 1990s, he adopted a fragile marine painting style inspired by model kits and World War I postcards, as in 'Spad XIII' (2000) and 'Albatros with Sopwith Pup' (2001). The review by David Ryan, translated by Frank Straschitz, suggests Morley's career reflects an ethical, somewhat old-fashioned affirmation of art rather than revolutionary iconoclasm.