Samuel Murray
Encyclopedia
Samuel Aloysius Murray was an American sculptor, and protégé of the painter Thomas Eakins
.
, and educated in the city's parochial schools. In September 1886, at age 17, he entered the seven-month-old Art Students' League of Philadelphia
, where he studied under Eakins. He soon became a favored student, then Eakins's assistant, and was listed as an instructor in 1892. The two artists shared a studio at 1330 Chestnut Street from 1892 to about 1900, sometimes painting and sculpting from the same model.
The pair spent a great deal of time together: working side by side, bicycling around Philadelphia, attending boxing matches, fishing in Gloucester, New Jersey
, and taking trips and vacations together. Murray accompanied Eakins on visits to Walt Whitman
in Camden, New Jersey
(across the Delaware River
from Philadelphia), and, following the poet's death on March 26, 1892, they cast a plaster death mask of his face. Murray introduced Eakins to Catholic priests at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
, and Eakins painted portraits of a number of them.
Eakins painted an 1889 portrait of Murray, and featured him in a number of paintings and photographs. Murray modeled at least three figures of Eakins. The exact nature of their relationship is the subject of speculation, but Murray remained a life-long friend to Eakins, and helped care for the disabled painter in his old age.
, Alice Neel
, Anne Parrish
, Ella Peacock, and most of the Philadelphia Ten
.
Murray's career as a sculptor had a propitious beginning: in March 1896, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
mounted a solo exhibition of his work. (He was age 27.) His first major commission came in September 1896, for ten colossal terracotta statues of Biblical prophets to adorn the facade of Philadelphia's Witherspoon Building. Eakins is rumored to have assisted on the project, and at least six of the figures were modeled on members of their "circle":
The models for Elijah, Ezekiel, Daniel and John the Baptist have not been identified. The terracotta statues were removed from the building in 1961; only three of them survive: Moses, Elijah, and Samuel.
Over the course of half a century, he modeled about a dozen large sculptures in bronze, the ten Witherspoon prophets, and nearly 200 portrait busts, miniatures and statuettes. Some of the commissions – Commodore Joseph Barry (1906-08), Father William Corby (1909-10), Bishop John W. Shanahan Memorial (1916-18) – may have come through his ties to Philadelphia's Irish-Catholic community. (One of his sisters was a nun.) His work was shown frequently at PAFA
's annual exhibitions from 1892 to 1933, occasionally at the National Academy of Design
and the National Sculpture Society (both in New York City), and at exhibitions in the United States and the 1900 Exposition Universelle
in Paris.
His most ambitious commission was for work on the Pennsylvania State Memorial
(1909-10), on the Gettysburg Battlefield
. An immense granite pavilion, Murray modeled the bas-reliefs
of battle scenes over its four arches, and the 21-foot-tall (originally gold-patinaed) goddess that crowns its dome. The latter seems to echo Augustus Saint-Gaudens
's Sherman Memorial in Central Park, New York City, of a decade earlier.
In 1916, he married illustrator Jennie Dean Kershaw, who had posed for one of the Witherspoon prophets twenty years earlier. They had no children. Murray died in Philadelphia, at the age of 72.
A competent sculptor and a sensitive modeler of faces, Murray is remembered more for his personal ties to Eakins than his body of work.
His widow donated a couple of his pieces to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
, which also has a collection of his papers. The largest collection of his works is at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
in Washington, DC (although few are on display). The Hirshhorn also owns five scrapbooks of his drawings and photographs, and mounted the first retrospective exhibition of Murray's sculpture in 1982.
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator...
.
Murray and Eakins
Murray, the 11th of 12 children of an Irish stone cutter and his wife, was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, and educated in the city's parochial schools. In September 1886, at age 17, he entered the seven-month-old Art Students' League of Philadelphia
Art Students' League of Philadelphia
Art Students' League of Philadelphia was a short-lived, co-operative art school formed in reaction to Thomas Eakins's February 1886 forced-resignation from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts...
, where he studied under Eakins. He soon became a favored student, then Eakins's assistant, and was listed as an instructor in 1892. The two artists shared a studio at 1330 Chestnut Street from 1892 to about 1900, sometimes painting and sculpting from the same model.
The pair spent a great deal of time together: working side by side, bicycling around Philadelphia, attending boxing matches, fishing in Gloucester, New Jersey
Gloucester, New Jersey
Gloucester, New Jersey may refer to:* Gloucester City, New Jersey, Camden County* Gloucester Township, New Jersey, Camden County* Gloucester County, New Jersey...
, and taking trips and vacations together. Murray accompanied Eakins on visits to Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
in Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
(across the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
from Philadelphia), and, following the poet's death on March 26, 1892, they cast a plaster death mask of his face. Murray introduced Eakins to Catholic priests at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is the seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Named for Charles Borromeo, it is located in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania,...
, and Eakins painted portraits of a number of them.
Eakins painted an 1889 portrait of Murray, and featured him in a number of paintings and photographs. Murray modeled at least three figures of Eakins. The exact nature of their relationship is the subject of speculation, but Murray remained a life-long friend to Eakins, and helped care for the disabled painter in his old age.
Career
At age 21 (reportedly, on Eakins's recommendation), Murray was hired by the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art) as an instructor in modeling from life and a lecturer in anatomy—a position he held for over 50 years. Among his students were Edythe Ferris, Bessie Pease GutmannBessie Pease Gutmann
Bessie Pease Gutmann was an American artist and illustrator most noted for her paintings of putti, infants and young children. During the early 1900s Gutmann was considered one of the better-known magazine and book illustrators in the United States. Her artwork was featured on 22 magazine covers...
, Alice Neel
Alice Neel
Alice Neel was an American artist known for her oil on canvas portraits of friends, family, lovers, poets, artists and strangers...
, Anne Parrish
Anne Parrish
Anne Parrish was an American novelist and author of children's literature. She was a three-time winner of the Newbery Honor....
, Ella Peacock, and most of the Philadelphia Ten
Philadelphia Ten
The Philadelphia Ten, also known as The Ten, was a group of female artists from the United States who exhibited together from 1917 to 1945. The group exhibited annually in Philadelphia and later had traveling exhibitions at other museums throughout the East Coast and the Midwest.-History:All of the...
.
Murray's career as a sculptor had a propitious beginning: in March 1896, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...
mounted a solo exhibition of his work. (He was age 27.) His first major commission came in September 1896, for ten colossal terracotta statues of Biblical prophets to adorn the facade of Philadelphia's Witherspoon Building. Eakins is rumored to have assisted on the project, and at least six of the figures were modeled on members of their "circle":
Moses: Walt WhitmanWalt WhitmanWalter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
(posthumous).
Isaiah: George W. Holmes (posthumous, from Eakins's The Chess Players).
Deborah: Susan Macdowell EakinsSusan Macdowell EakinsSusan Hannah Macdowell Eakins was an American artist and wife of Thomas Eakins. She was the fifth of eight children of a Philadelphia engraver, well known in the artistic community...
(Eakins's wife).
Samuel: Franklin L. Schenck (from Eakins's Home Ranch and other paintings).
Jeremiah: William H. Macdowell (Eakins's father-in-law).
Huldah: Jennie Dean Kershaw (later Murray's wife).
The models for Elijah, Ezekiel, Daniel and John the Baptist have not been identified. The terracotta statues were removed from the building in 1961; only three of them survive: Moses, Elijah, and Samuel.
Over the course of half a century, he modeled about a dozen large sculptures in bronze, the ten Witherspoon prophets, and nearly 200 portrait busts, miniatures and statuettes. Some of the commissions – Commodore Joseph Barry (1906-08), Father William Corby (1909-10), Bishop John W. Shanahan Memorial (1916-18) – may have come through his ties to Philadelphia's Irish-Catholic community. (One of his sisters was a nun.) His work was shown frequently at PAFA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...
's annual exhibitions from 1892 to 1933, occasionally at the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
and the National Sculpture Society (both in New York City), and at exhibitions in the United States and the 1900 Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1900)
The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
in Paris.
His most ambitious commission was for work on the Pennsylvania State Memorial
The Pennsylvania State Memorial
The Pennsylvania State Memorial is an American Civil War monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield, that commemorates the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and are listed on the Bronze tablets on the monument's walls....
(1909-10), on the Gettysburg Battlefield
Gettysburg Battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...
. An immense granite pavilion, Murray modeled the bas-reliefs
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
of battle scenes over its four arches, and the 21-foot-tall (originally gold-patinaed) goddess that crowns its dome. The latter seems to echo Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
's Sherman Memorial in Central Park, New York City, of a decade earlier.
In 1916, he married illustrator Jennie Dean Kershaw, who had posed for one of the Witherspoon prophets twenty years earlier. They had no children. Murray died in Philadelphia, at the age of 72.
A competent sculptor and a sensitive modeler of faces, Murray is remembered more for his personal ties to Eakins than his body of work.
His widow donated a couple of his pieces to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...
, which also has a collection of his papers. The largest collection of his works is at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
in Washington, DC (although few are on display). The Hirshhorn also owns five scrapbooks of his drawings and photographs, and mounted the first retrospective exhibition of Murray's sculpture in 1982.
Selected works
- Bust of Walt Whitman (plaster, 1892), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
. Modeled from the death mask of Whitman made by Murray and Eakins. - Bust of Benjamin Eakins (plaster, 1894), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
. Won the Philadelphia Art Club's Gold Medal in 1894. - Bust of Thomas Eakins (bronze, 1894, 1924 cast), Philadelphia Museum of ArtPhiladelphia Museum of ArtThe Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
. - Ten Biblical Prophets (terracotta, 1896-98), Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia, PA (removed 1961, three survive).
- Bust of James H. Windrim (bronze, 1901-02), Smith Memorial ArchSmith Memorial ArchSmith Memorial Arch is an American Civil War monument at South Concourse and Lansdowne Drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built on the former grounds of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it serves as a gateway to West Fairmount Park...
, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA. Won a Silver Medal at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase ExpositionLouisiana Purchase ExpositionThe Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
. - Commodore John Barry (bronze, 1906-08), Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA.
- Statuette of Thomas Eakins Sitting (plaster, 1907), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, Washington, DC. Eakins is shown at work on his painting The Agnew ClinicThe Agnew ClinicThe Agnew Clinic, or, The Clinic of Dr. Agnew, is an 1889 oil painting by American artist Thomas Eakins, Goodrich #235. It was commissioned to honor anatomist and surgeon David Hayes Agnew, on his retirement from teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.-Background:The Agnew Clinic depicts Dr....
(1889). - Joseph Leidy (bronze, 1907), Academy of Natural SciencesAcademy of Natural SciencesThe Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World...
, Philadelphia, PA. - Father William Corby (bronze, 1909-10), Gettysburg BattlefieldGettysburg BattlefieldThe Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...
, Gettysburg, PA. The statue stands on the same rock on which Father Corby stood while granting absolution to Union troops before the second day of the battle. A copy is at the University of Notre DameUniversity of Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
. - Goddess of Victory and Peace (bronze, 1909-10), Pennsylvania State MemorialThe Pennsylvania State MemorialThe Pennsylvania State Memorial is an American Civil War monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield, that commemorates the 34,530 Pennsylvania soldiers who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and are listed on the Bronze tablets on the monument's walls....
, Gettysburg BattlefieldGettysburg BattlefieldThe Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...
, Gettysburg, PA. Murray also modeled the bas-reliefs above the monument's arches. - Sorrow (bronze, 1912), Alfred O. Deshong Memorial, Chester Rural CemeteryChester Rural CemeteryChester Rural Cemetery, located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania near the city of Chester, was founded in March 1863. Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who died at the government hospital across the street, were some of the first burials...
, Chester, PA. A statuette of Sorrow (bronze, circa 1910) and Murray's Bust of Alfred O. Deshong (bronze, circa 1916) are in the Alfred O. Deshong Collection at Widener UniversityWidener UniversityWidener University is a private, coeducational university located in Chester, Pennsylvania.Its main campus sits on 108 acres , just southwest of Philadelphia...
. - Bishop John W. Shanahan Memorial (bronze, 1916-18), Cathedral of Saint PatrickCathedral of Saint Patrick in HarrisburgThe Cathedral of Saint Patrick in Harrisburg is a cathedral of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is the motherchurch of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg and is the seat of its prelate bishop. The cathedral was built from 1904 to 1907, is Italian Renaissance in style and capped...
, Harrisburg, PA. Located at the rear of the naveNaveIn Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
, the memorial features a large bronze crucifixCrucifixA crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
set in a niche of white marble. - Admiral George W. Melville (bronze, 1923), Philadelphia Naval YardPhiladelphia Naval ShipyardThe Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...
, Philadelphia, PA. A 1904 statuette of this is at the American Philosophical SocietyAmerican Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
. - Senator Boies Penrose (bronze, 1930), Pennsylvania State CapitolPennsylvania State CapitolThe Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is in downtown Harrisburg. It was designed in 1902 in a Beaux-Arts style with Renaissance themes throughout...
, Harrisburg, PA.