In what would have been his 100th birthday, Stan Murphy is having a renaissance on the Island.
In what would have been his 100th birthday, Stan Murphy is having a renaissance on the Island.
Stan Murphy at 100, on display through August 21 on the museum’s second floor, joins the earlier Thomas Hart Benton show as one of the museum’s triumphs.
Stan Murphy’s body of work tells the story of the Island, craggy faced, thick skinned and strong of heart.
In a rough pen sketch dated March 26, 1958, you can just make out a figure standing at the side of a boat, hauling a lobster pot. The sketch appears to be three-dimensional, with a series of knot-like shapes along the top. A note next to the shapes reads, “hands in sky.”
A second sketch, dated March 27, 1958, shows a clearer image of the man with the lobster pot and boat, and the hands in the sky are clearer here against a backdrop of cliff and sea. The artist has added color, but the sketch is simple in content.
