Friday, May 30, 2008

The Dallas Museum of Art presents exhibit chronicling the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy

By Laura Seewoester

Image provided by the DMA

Gerald Murphy, Wasp and Pear, 1929, oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Archibald MacLeish, 1964, © Estate of Honoria Murphy Donnelly/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, New York

The Dallas Museum of Art is featuring a nationally acclaimed exhibit this summer (curated by Deborah Rothschild of the Williams College Museum of Art), Making it New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy. While the exhibit does feature all eight (or seven, depending on how you look at it) of Gerald Murphy's remaining paintings, it is more than just your regular art show. It's a biography, a history lesson, and also a love story between two people fully engaged in the arts during the 1920's and 30's. Sara and Gerald Murphy were wealthy socialite expats living in France during the 1920's at the height of the modernist movement. They dabbled in art and performance themselves and are also known for entertaining artistic and literary greats such as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Pablo and Olga Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Cole Porter among many others. They are the couple that inspired Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

The exhibit starts with Gerald's seven remaining paintings, in which a cubist inspiration is evident. It then takes you through their lives, starting first with a little family background and portraits, drawings and some clothing of their early lives, followed by an example of some of the types of paintings that inspired the Murphys' and Geralds' work while they were in Paris. The meat of the exhibit consists of drawings, paintings, photographs and even home movies of the Murphys during the 8 or so years they spent in Antibes on the French Riviera in the 1920's. During that time, most people flocked to the French Riviera during the winter, but it was a ghost town during the summer months. They convinced the Hotel du Cap to let them stay there over the summers until they bought their own house, which they called Villa America. (The exhibit houses a sign that says "Villa America" that was painted by Gerald, and thus remains the "8th" painting in the collection.) The letters, photos and other mementos in the exhibit capture what life was like for the Murhpys during this time period. Groups dressed up and danced on the beach next to sketches and art both by the Murphys and artists such as Picasso show how the Murphys created an atmosphere of inspiration, a place that encouraged people to have fun and be creative. It is even rumored that the Murphys may have invented sunbathing, and Sara would lie on the beach with pearls draping down her back (not the front, where they would mess up her tan).

Image provided by the DMA

Gerald and Sara Murphy on La Garoupe beach, Antibes, Summer 1926. Gerald and Sara Murphy Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. © Estate of Honoria Murphy Donnely/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

The final part exhibit takes the viewer through the twists and turns the Murphys experienced during 1929 and after. In 1929 the Murphys' eldest son was diagnosed with tuberculosis and the stock market crashed. This is also the year that Gerald gave up painting, the Murphys moved back to the states and Gerald took up work with his family's company. While their oldest son was in recovery, the Murphys' youngest son came down with the measles and then meningitis which lead to his death. The oldest son, Patrick, never recovered from TB and died soon after. The exhibit features drawings by Patrick during this time period (he was an excellent artist) and letters, including a touching letter written to them by F. Scott Fitzgerald upon the news of Patrick's death.

While most people aren't independently wealthy enough to just live and play on a beach, there is still a thing or two to learn from the Murphys' life. Through thick and thin they managed to stay engaged and creative with the world around them. Leaving the exhibit, I wonder how the Murphys would approach today's technology with television and such. Would they still be as engaged in the world, or would they be sucked into couch potato-ness like the rest of us? Personally, I think they would see TV and the internet as just another medium, another resource with which to encourage those around them to express themselves and be creative. What can we learn from Sara and Gerald Murphy? Don't just pick up a good book. Write one.

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• Arts > Fine Arts > Art and Sculpture

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