Victor Musgrave

Victor Musgrave (1919–1984) was a British poet, art dealer and curator. Described by David Sylvester as a 'true pioneer' Musgrave was the first gallerist to show Bridget Riley and was a champion of Art Brut. He often bragged that he was the only art dealer who did not wear a tie.

Musgrave ran 'Gallery One' between 1953 and 1963, first in Litchfield Street then moving to D'Arblay Street in Soho. The gallery gave Yves Klein his first solo exhibition in London and also presented work by Fluxus artists. In the 1950s he had several exhibits of work by Francis Newton Souza. He also gave the British artist Bridget Riley her first exhibition.

Musgrave met and married the portrait photographer Ida Kar in Cairo in 1944; they moved to London in the following year. The marriage collapsed in 1969.

In 1977 Musgrave met Monika Kinley, an art dealer, collector and curator. Together they put on exhibitions, raised funding and started a collection of outsider art.

The Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection of about 800 works was given to the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, facilitated by the Contemporary Art Society. Previously it was on loan for ten years at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin.

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