Bill Murphy
1. Loading Dock, Stamford, New York. Acrylic, 2022. Canvas size 25 1/4 x 24 7/8” (63.8 x 63.4 cm). Very good condition. #101500-1 $3,900.00
BILL MURPHY – RECENT WORK
EXHIBITION SEPTEMBER 17-OCTOBER 26, 2024
Artist Reception September 21, 1 to 4 p.m.
Artist Talk October 19, 2 to 3 p.m.
Bill Murphy was born and raised on Staten Island and studied at The School of Visual Arts, The Art Students League, and Vermont College. He was a Professor of Visual Arts at Wagner College for thirty-six years, retiring in 2020. He continues to teach workshops in drawing at The Art Students League of New York.
He is a highly regarded artist working in the medium of drawing, painting, and printmaking. His subject matter ranges from rural to urban landscape, as well as to figure and portrait studies. An abandoned loading dock (cover) that Murphy discovered in the backstreets of a small upstate New York town inspired him to capture the drama of light and dark, and according to Murphy might serve as a deeper commentary on the transient nature of life:
My subjects are found in the world around me. I find ‘the fact’ of everyday reality far more interesting, wonderful, and stranger than anything I can summon up from my imagination. My deepest pleasure in the process of artmaking is derived when the process of drawing (or painting) can transcend the ordinary world and bring me into a state of contemplative reverie, a place beyond the narrow confines of thought. The picture is often just a souvenir of this trip, the roadmap of an inner journey.
I feel very much in the service of some sort of Muse. That’s whom I work for. She tells me what to do and when.
The important thing is to make myself available for this work as often as possible. I have learned that inner preparation, even vigilance, is necessary. One never knows when one will be called.
Murphy finds the human figure artistically compelling. His figurative works are not paintings of Presidents or Princes but rather drawn from the everyday street traffic of the city, as well as friends and fellow artists. The internationally recognized artist Jerome Witkin, a longtime friend of the artist, is portrayed in his Syracuse studio illuminated by the same sort of dramatic stage light Witkins own portraits are often associated. The portrait of “Donna” on the following page illustrates his interest in the humanity of his sitters. He often experiments with varied textures and materials, which keeps the artmaking process fresh.
49 West 24th Street, 2nd Floor New York, N.Y. 10010
Bill Murphy
2. Donna. Acrylic on board, 2022. Board size 15 7/8 x 17 1/4” (40.3 x 43.7 cm). Very good condition. #101502-1 $3,400.00
3. Jerome Witkin in His Syracuse Studio. Charcoal drawing on prepared paper, 2023. Signed and dated in pencil. Image size 19 7/8 x 16 7/8” (50.6 x 42.9 cm). Very good condition. #101494-1 $2,900.00
4. Resilience. (Norma) Ink drawing, 2020. Signed and dated in pencil. Image size 13 x 13 1/4” (33 x 33.5 cm). Very good condition. #101486-1 $2,500.00
Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy
5. Self Drawing. Monoprint, 2014. Signed, titled, and dated June 27, 2014, in pencil. Image size 18 6/8 x 16 1/4” (46.7 x 41.7 cm). Very good condition. #101469-1 $2,000.00
Bill Murphy’s work is in the permanent collection of
The Library of Congress
The British Museum
The Brooklyn Museum
The New-York Historical Society
The National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York
New York Transit Museum, New York
Denver Art Museum Denver, Colorado
9/11 Memorial Museum
New York Public Library
Newark Public Library
Nassau Community College, New York
Westinghouse Corporation
Parkersburg Art Center, West Virginia
Staten Island Institute of Art and Science
Hofstra University
Syracuse University
6. From Old Brooklyn. Etching, 2015. Signed and titled in pencil. The print is based on a mural painted in 1988. Edition 75. Image size 9 3/4 x 17 1/4” (24.7 x 44 cm). Very good condition. #87886-4 $400.00
Bill Murphy
7. Saint Andrews, Twilight. Etching, 2019. Signed, and titled in pencil. Edition 50. Image size 9 7/8 x 17 1/2” (25.2 x 44.4 cm). Very good condition. #101466-1 $450.00
Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy
8. The Flatiron. Etching, 2015. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 75. Image size 13 7/8 x 7 1/2” (34.2 x 19 cm). Very good condition #89733-7 $425.00
Bill Murphy
9. Bed (Morning). Pastel and charcoal drawing, 2023. Initialed and dated in pencil lower right. Image size 21 3/8 x 25 1/2” (54 x 64.7 cm). Very good condition. #101504-1 $2,900.00
Bill Murphy
10. Bed #1. Drawing, 2023. Signed and dated in pencil. Image size 15 1/4 x 15 1/4” (38.8 x 38.8 cm). Very good condition. #101487-1 $2,500.00
Bill Murphy
11. Window with Broken Blind. (Stamford, New York) Oil on canvas, 2022. Signed in pencil lower right. Canvas size 25 x 18 7/8” (63.4 x 48 cm). Very good condition. #101503-1 $3,800.00
Bill Murphy
12. Gravesend, The Persistence of Memory. Etching, 2010. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 75. Image size 6 5/8 x 14 3/4” (16.9 x 37.5 cm). Very good condition. #101509-1 $350.00
Bill Murphy
13. Hurricane Sandy. / The Grounding of the John B. Caddell. Etching, 2013. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 50. Image size 8 15/16 x 19 9/16” (22.8 x 49.2. cm). Very good condition. #80977-1 $300.00
Bill Murphy
14. Manhattan Bridge Study. Etching, 2016. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 50. Image size 12 3/8 x 8 9/16” (31.4 x 21.8 cm). Very good condition. #101468-1 $300.00
Bill Murphy
15. Nightflower. Pencil drawing, 2016. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil. Image size 22 7/8 x 19 7/8” (57.8 x 50.3 cm). Very good condition. #101485-1 $2,000.00
Bill Murphy
16. Above Kaaterskill Falls. Watercolor, 2023. Signed, titled, and dated June 18 & 29, 2023. Image size 18 3/4 x 15 7/8” (47.6 x 40 cm). Very good condition. #101484-1 $2,000.00
Bill Murphy
17. My Hands. Drawing, 2022. Signed and dated in pencil. Paper size 17 1/2 x 21 1/2” (44.4 x 54.4 cm). Very good condition. #101471-1 $2,000.00
Bill Murphy
18. The Paramount #II. Lithograph, 2013. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 70. Image size 11 7/8 x 16 11/16” (30.4 x 42.3 cm). Very good condition. #80976-3 $350.00
19. From East Buchanan. Etching, 2022 Signed, and titled in pencil. Inscribed “Artists proof.” Image size 12 7/8 x 9 1/2” (32.5 x 24 cm). Very good condition. #101464-1 $400.00
Bill Murphy
Bill Murphy
20. The Messenger. Acrylic, 2024. Signed and dated on verso. Canvas size 27 x 18” (68.5 x 45.8 cm). Very good condition. #101501-1 $3,500.00
Bill Murphy
21. The Chair and Shirt. Drawing, 2024. Signed and dated in pencil. Image size 19 3/4 x 114 3/8” (50.4 x 36.3 cm). Very good condition. #101472-1 $2,500.00
Bill Murphy
22. (left) Fireflies. Etching, 2019. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 50. Image size 9 x 7” (22.9 x 17.8 cm). Very good condition. #100407-2 $300.00
Bill Murphy
23. (right) Resilience. [Norma] Etching, 2020. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 25. Image size 9 x 7” (22.9 x 17.8 cm). Very good condition. #101483-1 $300.00
Bill Murphy
25. The Nine O’Clock Boat. Etching, 2014. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil. Edition 75. Image size 12 15/16 x 15 3/8” (32.9 x 39.1 cm). Very good condition. #87134-2 $400.00
Bill Murphy
24. The Night Boat. Etching, 2015. Signed and titled in pencil. Edition 75. Image size 14 15/16 x 14 9/16” (36.6 x 37.1 cm). Very good condition. #89734-2 $400.00
Bill Murphy
26. Carlos’ Truck. Drawing, 2021. Signed and dated November 11, 2021, in pencil. Image size 18 5/8 x 16 3/8” (47.3 x 41.5 cm). Very good condition. #101490-1 $2,300.00
Bill Murphy
27. Brooklyn Bridge, Night. Etching 1987. Signed and titled in pencil. Artist’s proof. Image size 10 5/8 x 8 7/8” (27.2 x 22.5 cm). Very good condition. #32962-4 $550.00
Bill Murphy
28. Diane Reading in Poughkeepsie, New York. Drawing, 2021. Signed, titled, and dated July 4, 2021, in pencil. Image size 8 5/8 x 15” (21.8 x 38 cm). Very good condition. #101496-1 $2,000.00
Murphy
29. Ella - Mother’s Day. Drypoint, 2017. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil. Edition 10. Image size 8 7/8 x 9 3/4” (22.5 x 24.8 cm). Very good condition. #101488-1 $600.00
Bill
Murphy
30. My Hometown - Staten Island. Etching, 1990. Signed in pencil. Inscribed “Artist’s Proof II.” Edition 25. Image size 6 7/8 x 9 7/8” (17.3 x 24.9 cm). Very good condition. #18075-4 $300.00
31. Loading Dock, Stamford, New York. Drawing, 2023. Initialed. lower right. Image size 11 1/2 x 12 1/4” (29.4 x 31 cm). Very good condition. Framed. #101489-1 $1,900.00
Bill
Bill Murphy
Select One Person and Group Exhibitions
Unique Impressions Monoprint Invitational; Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington; January 7 – February 26, 2022
Life on the Canal Then by Artists Now; Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse New York; May 29 – July 31 2018
The Ballad of Staten Island; (One person show) Wagner College Gallery, Staten Island, New York; December 2013
Bill Murphy; Prints 1987-2013, April 2013 Bearsville Graphics Fine Art Gallery, Woodstock, New York (One Person)
National Academy Museum, NYC, The Annual Exhibition, Jan. 23 – April 28, 2012
Bill Murphy; Works on Paper Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, Nov. 5 – 29 2011 (One man Exhibition)
The Old Print Shop, New York City (One Person exhibit, spring, 2004)
Wagner College Gallery, One Person Exhibition, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2007
New Visual Treasures; The Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey, October, 2005
Society of American Graphic Artists 90th Anniversary Exhibit, July, 2005, Awarded the A .I. Freidman Award
About Faces; Portraits Past and Present; Staten Island Museum, June -November, 2005
Impressions of New York, join the Collection of the New-York Historical Society; Nov. 2004 – March 2005
Staten Island Museum Bill Murphy: a Retrospective View (one person exhibit) March – October, 2002
The British Museum, London, U.K. Recent Acquisitions, Spring, 2000
Bill Murphy in his studio. Photograph by Willie Chu.
Bill Murphy
32. The Print Room in a Convex Mirror. Oil on canvas, 2021 Canvas size circular diameter
34” (86.3 cm). Very good condition. #101505-1 $6,000.00
Bill Murphy
33. Atlantic Salt Co. at Night. Acrylic on canvas, 2021 Canvas size
Very good condition. #101499-1 $3,500.00