Victor Musgrave

{{Short description|British poet, art dealer and curator}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

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.

Musgrave ran 'Gallery One' between 1953 and 1963, where the most notable South Asian modernists were exhibited.{{Cite web|url=http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/upcomingexhibitions/south-asian-modernists-1953-63/|title=South Asian Modernists 1953-63 {{!}} Whitworth Art Gallery|website=www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk|access-date=2018-06-11}} It was located, first, in Litchfield Street then moving to D'Arblay Street in Soho.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp18609/victor-musgrave|title=Victor Musgrave (1919-1984), Art dealer and collector; founder of Gallery One|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|accessdate=16 June 2012}} The gallery gave Yves Klein his first solo exhibition in London{{Cite web|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp18609/victor-musgrave|title=Victor Musgrave - Person - National Portrait Gallery|website=www.npg.org.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-06-11}}, Billy Apple's Apple Sees Red: Live Stills was the first solo pop art exhibition in the UK, and they also presented work by Fluxus artists. The exhibition Seven Indian Painters in Europe (1958) was one of the most significant works at the gallery and was critically acclaimed.

Musgrave promoted eminent Pakistani and Indian artists, including Avinash Chandra, Anwar Jalal Shemza and F N Souza to the British audience. The men were at forefront of avant-garde practice in South Asia.

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.{{r|vanora}}

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.{{cite news|last=Dempsey|first=Andrew|title=Monika Kinley obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/apr/06/monika-kinley|accessdate=5 May 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 April 2014}}