Francis Roderick Kemp AO, OBE, (Eaglehawk, 3 July 1908 – Melbourne 14 September 1987), known as Roger, was one of Australia's foremost practitioners of transcendental abstraction.
Although he sold no works, Kemp's first solo exhibition at the Velasquez Gallery in Melbourne in June 1945 drew interest.
In 1943, he married Edna Merle McCrohan, an art teacher; the couple had four daughters, including Jenny, a playwright.
Diagonal, rather well proportioned shapes in lively pinks, greens, indigo blues, iron greys, and ochre, give a feeling of violent movement to Mr Kemp's pictures.
There is exuberance, but it is controlled by a aesthetic etiquette as precise as the protocol of the Habsburg court" James Gleeson[6]"To many people Roger Kemp appears as a hermit, painting out his spiritual drama away from the world, removing himself both as man and painter.
They are exhibited alongside the stained-glass ceiling, which was created by his contemporary Leonard French, and are considered some of the most identifiable works at the NGV.