Kempf was born in Melbourne and studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and in Italy and 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.
Kempf has worked with and in a variety of media, styles and methods including paint, print, etching, lithograph, monotype, screenprint, textile and woodcut.
Professor Sasha Grishin has described him as
...an artist whose work presents both a striking continuity throughout a career which has stretched over half a century, and he is an artist whose work presents evidence for constant rejuvenation and reinvention. As a humanist, the concern for man lies at the centre of his universe and the dilemma of being is the central preoccupation. However, the human presence in Kempf’s art is not something which is treated as unproblematic, something to be recorded and to be described literally. For Kempf to be human is something to be celebrated and the artist adopts an ethical stance in his defence of human dignity. Throughout a series of metaphors, symbols and allegories in a sombre and profound manner he commemorates the miracle of being and condemns all that is oppressive and coercive.
As a humanist and as a spiritual and religious artist, Kempf has chosen a path which has not been popular with many of his Australian peers. Yet with time as the various fads and fashions pass, Kempf’s art today appears increasingly fresh, vital and relevant to the issues of the present time.
He was Senior Lecturer in printmaking at the University of South Australia from 1973 to 1981 and has been a Guest Lecturer at the Slade School of Fine Art, the University of London, the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland; Gloucester College of Art, United Kingdom and has participated in over 90 one man invitation exhibitions in America, Israel, Germany, Poland and China.
In 1964 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society UK and in December 2002 was awarded The Member of the Order of Australia Medal for his contribution to the Arts.
In 2006 a documentary film, Franz Kempf, was produced on his work.
Collections
Kempf's work is held in the following:
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 Gallery, 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
Reviews and commentary
Ashkenazi, Susie, ‘New Paintings by Franz Kempf’, Jewish News, May 1995
Dutkiewicz, Adam, ‘Reflections on Life’s Journey’, Advertiser, September 1997
Dutkiewicz, Adam, ‘Romantic Landscape in the Abstract’, Advertiser, December 1994
Emery, John, ‘Kempf uncovered’, Advertiser, May 1991
Grishin, Sasha, ‘The Voyages of Franz Kempf’, Franz Kempf Recent Work, BMG Art, Adelaide, 1997
Grishin, Sasha, ‘Discord in Harmony’, Franz Kempf Recent Work, BMG Art,
Grishin, Sasha, Discord in Harmony’, Franz Kempf Recent Work, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, 1995
Grishin, Sasha, ‘Franz Kempf Works on Paper’, Flinders University Art Museum, 2002
Harris, Samela, ‘Outsiders and Witnesses in Art’, Advertiser, September 1995
Jawary, Anita, ‘Insights into a Creative Life’, Australian Jewish News, Melbourne edition, November 1992
De Jong-Duldig, Eva, ‘Printmaker Presents a Fascinating Look at Life’, Arts/Review, April 1993
Kronenberg, Simon, ‘An Exhibition of Contemporary Art’, Jewish Festival of Art, Westpac Gallery, Victorian Art Centre, Melbourne, 1993
Larkin, John, ‘Return of a Graduate from the Academy of Free Spirit’, Melbourne Age, May 1995
Larkin, John, ‘The View from Within and Above, Franz Kempf Recent Work, BMG Art 2000
Lloyd, Tim, ‘Abstract Meets Landscape’, Advertiser, December 1994
McDonald, Katherine, ‘Henri Worland Print Award, 1972-1992’, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria
Smith, Dr Ernest and Smith, Robert, ‘Franz Kempf The Painter as Printmaker 1955-1992’, Mildura Art Gallery, Swan Hill Regional Gallery, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin
Lloyd, Tim, ‘Infinite Possibilities’, The Advertiser, 20 October 2002
Grishin, Sasha, ‘Thinking on Paper 1955 - 2002’, Wakefield Press October 2002
Neylon, John, ‘Thinking on Paper’, The Adelaide Review, October 2002
Publications
‘Art in Israel’. Broadsheet, Contemporary Art Society, August 1965, pp.5-7
‘Polish Printmakers 1972’, Art and Australia 10,3,1973, pp.236
‘Sculpture in South Australia’, Art and Australia 12, 1, 1974, pp.46-7
Contemporary Australian Printmakers, Melbourne: Lansdowne, 1976
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
