{"id":2173018,"date":"2026-10-01T05:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T02:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2173018"},"modified":"2026-10-01T05:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T02:28:55","slug":"a-thrill-to-find-unknown-iris-murdoch-artwork-in-oxford-attic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2173018","title":{"rendered":"‘A thrill’ to find unknown Iris Murdoch artwork in Oxford attic"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/e566\/live\/0d4e0ba0-bce4-11f1-afec-ebbb2634c4cd.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"BBC\/SophieBBC\/Sophie Law<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Miles Leeson rediscovered 80 works by the author in an attic in Oxford<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Miles Leeson has been studying Dame Iris Murdoch – one of Britain’s best-loved authors – for more than a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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So when he got a call last year alerting him to the possible discovery of new work by the writer, he did not get his hopes up straight away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But, climbing into a dusty Oxford attic, he was gobsmacked to find a treasure trove of art created by the Booker Prize-winning novelist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Almost 80 paintings and sketches, which had laid undisturbed in the eaves for decades, are now on display for the first time at the centre Leeson runs in West Sussex.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"UlfUlf Andersen<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dame Iris Murdoch was a novelist, philosopher, playwright and Oxford academic<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dame Iris lived in the house in the early 1940s, after arriving at university in Oxford in her early 20s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She died at a nursing home in the city in 1999.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Going into that house really did feel like stepping back in time,” Leeson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“A space that hadn’t really been explored for a number of years, dusty, cobwebs. It really did feel like a complete treat to be invited in. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“To find the actual materials that we didn’t know existed – what a thrill. I brushed off the dust, but other than that they are as they were found.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBC\/SophieBBC\/Sophie Law<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The newly discovered self-portrait is thought to be the only one the author painted<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The highlight of the exhibition is the author’s only known self-portrait, which Leeson said was his favourite piece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It shows us Murdoch in a new light. There is a frisson when you come and have a look,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Other pieces were inspired by surrealist artists she admired, like Paul Nash and Salvador Dali, while the building threat of war in Europe also influenced her paintings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The free exhibition will run until December at the University of Chichester’s library, and afterwards there are hopes the art may return to Oxford or a national museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cm3eqg78pw34o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/e566\/live\/0d4e0ba0-bce4-11f1-afec-ebbb2634c4cd.jpg”] BBC\/Sophie Law Miles Leeson rediscovered 80 works by the author in an attic in Oxford Miles Leeson has been studying Dame Iris Murdoch – one of Britain’s best-loved authors – for more than a decade. So when he got a call last year alerting him to the possible discovery of new work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2173018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2173018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2173018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2173018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2173018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}