Roger Kemp was one of Australia’s most prominent Transcendental Abstractionists, likened to Kandinsky and Malevich. He worked in the field of non-figurative painting, opting to use symbols and motifs. Roger Kemp began his art career in 1929 when he enrolled in night classes at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Art School. A brief stint with the Working Men’s College saw him study commercial art before returning to the NGV School where he took up full-time studies in painting. He held his first solo exhibition at the Velasquez Gallery in June 1945. He was the leader of a small group of Geometric Abstractionists, associated with the Contemporary Art Society and was a member of the controversial group the Antipodeans. In 1982 Dame Elisabeth Murdoch endowed the National Gallery of Victoria with tapestries to hang in the Great Hall of the Gallery. One of these was designed by Kemp who stands in a sympathetic artistic relationship to Leonard French, designer of the stained-glass ceiling in the Great Hall. Among the awards Roger Kemp won throughout his career are: the John McGaughey Memorial Prize, the Georges Invitation Art Prize and two Blake Prizes for religious art.