Franz Kempf

Franz Moishe Kempf (20 June 1926 – 8 February 2020) was an Australian artist who worked in Australia and Europe. He was a lecturer in printmaking at the University of Adelaide.

Early life and education Franz Moishe Kempf was born in Melbourne on 20 June 1926, and studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, then (between 1957 and 1960) Austria. In England, he worked as a film designer with Richard Macdonald, and was associated with Peter Blake, Joe Tilson, Ceri Richards and Keith Vaughan. Vaughan had an influence on Kempf’s work of the 1960s.

Career Kempf worked with and in a variety of media, styles, and methods, including paint, print, etching, lithograph, monotype, screenprint, textile, and woodcut.

Kempf moved to Adelaide, South Australia, in 1963, becoming head of printmaking at the then North Adelaide School of Arts in 1969. Honours and recognition In 1964, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society UK, and in January 2003, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the Arts.

Death and legacy Kempf died in Adelaide on 8 February 2020. He was married to Tamar, and left two children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The Carclew, an arts centre for youth in North Adelaide, manages the IAF Franz Kempf Printmaker Award, awarded biennially to support the professional development of a young South Australian printmaker. The funding for the award was provided as a gift from Kempf to the Independent Arts Foundation, of which he was a longtime member.

The Franz Kempf Memorial Gallery in the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre (opened in November 2020) contains work by Kempf.

Publications ‘Art in Israel’. Broadsheet, Contemporary Art Society, August 1965, pp. 5–7 ‘Polish Printmakers 1972’, Art & Australia 10,3,1973, pp. 236 ‘Sculpture in South Australia’, Art & Australia 12, 1, 1974, pp. 46–7

Etchings for Shmuel Gorr, ‘The End of Days’, The Jewish Observer V, 5, October 1968, pp. 16–18, and Shmuel Gorr, ‘The End of Days’, Melbourne: The Levite Press, (1968) Ultimate Goal, Franz Kempf, Generation Vol 3 No 4, General Journal Inc, Melbourne Victoria

Collections Kempf's work is held in the following institutions:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London Betsalel National Museum, Jerusalem Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem Beit Hanassi, Jerusalem Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne Exeter University, Exeter Australian National Gallery, Canberra Art Bank, Sydney NSW Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, Newcastle Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool Flinders University Art Museum, Flinders University University of Adelaide University of Melbourne Reserve Bank of Australia Nillumbik Art Collection Broken Hill Proprietary House Collection Wollongong City Art Gallery Swan Hill Gallery of Contemporary Art Premier’s Department, New South Wales University of South Australia Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, New South Wales New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale St Ann's College, Adelaide Queen Victoria Museum, Tasmania Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania Waite Agricultural Research Institute, Adelaide Hilton International Hotel, Adelaide Parliament House, Canberra, ACT Australian National University, Canberra, ACT National Museum of Australia, Canberra, ACT Guandong Museum of Art China, China Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne