MONTREAL.- The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts salutes a man of great generosity, Dr. Sean B. Murphy (1924-2017), who passed away this year. To pay tribute to this true gentleman, whose commitment and generosity marked the history of the MMFA, the Museum is exhibiting some fifty drawings and prints from the 16th to the 20th century, from among the 123 works by European masters, both early and modern, as well as by North-American artists, which were donated by this avid collector.

Nathalie Bondil, Director General and Chief Curator, MMFA, expressed her affection for Sean Murphy: “Sean was a gentleman collector. Following a remarkable career in medicine, he was dedicated, as he himself said, to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he enjoyed a second decades-long career as an exemplary volunteer, serving as an outstanding Chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, and heading numerous Acquisition Committees with elegance, finesse and strategy. Also an extraordinary collector, this joyful and optimistic man was an incomparable motivator for attracting new gifts, defending our curators’ boldest proposals and involving all audiences in drawing in all circumstances… even at the Museum! Our copyists and budding artists can still use the benches that bear his name in our galleries. From among the 123 works he donated to the MMFA, here is a selection that reveals the scope of his tastes. Thank you, Sean, forever!”

Presented in the MMFA Irwin and Freda Browns Graphic Art Centre, this selection of works on paper exemplifies the passion of an esteemed collector. It includes works by Italian artists, such as creations by the Venetian painter Canaletto, as well as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Giuseppe Bernardino Bison. There are also some remarkable drawings (and bronzes) from Great Britain by Henry Moore, prints by Stanley William Hayter and Lynn Chadwick, and a watercolour by Paul Nash.

In addition, this is an opportunity to admire works by some American master engravers from the 20th century, such as George Bellows, Stow Wengenroth, Martin Lewis and Reginald Marsh. The Canadians Alfred Pellan, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jean McEwen and Christopher Pratt are also represented. Other modern artists are included in this presentation, namely Pablo Picasso, Rufino Tamayo, Marino Marini and Claes Oldenburg.

There are even works by two artistic relatives of Dr. Murphy, the Canadian Cecil Buller and the American John Murphy, as well as a few sketches done by Dr. Murphy himself.

Several works acquired through the Dr. Sean B. Murphy Fund are also on display: an early rare print by Doetechum, after Hieronymus Bosch, titled Saint Martin with His Horse on a Ship (1561); an engraving by Hendrick Goudt, The Mocking of Ceres (1610); and the first Ludovico Carracci to enter the MMFA’s collection, Madonna and Child with Angels (about 1600-1602). A hand-coloured woodcut depicting part of the Lord’s Prayer by the German Expressionist Max Pechstein is also among the works on display, along with a recent acquisition, The Presentation in the Temple (1608), a chiaroscuro woodblock print by Andrea Andreani after the artist Parmigianino.

“I had the opportunity to know Dr. Sean Murphy for nearly two decades, and the passion that he brought to his love for the graphic arts was not only palpable; it was infectious in its unbridled joy. Sean collected many different schools of art, but always with a discernment for quality and a delight in the artists’ techniques. An ophthalmologist, it is apt that his response to art works was visceral, pleasure taken in the sheer seen experience offered by art works or, in his own drawings, to the immediate possibilities evoked by sight,” recalled the exhibition curator, Hilliard T. Goldfarb, Senior Curator – Collections and Curator of Old Masters, MMFA.

Dr. SEAN B. MURPHY (1924-2017): A Gentleman Collector
A highly esteemed, nationally recognized ophthalmologist, Dr. Murphy devoted many years to the Museum in a great many distinguished capacities. He joined the Membership Committee in 1959, became a Trustee in 1965 and served as Chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees from 1968 until 1978. Until just a few years ago, he also chaired various Museum acquisition committees. His support of the Museum included generous donations of 123 works, many of them works on paper. For the MMFA, Dr. Murphy established a fund in his mother’s name, Cecil Buller, for the acquisition of prints. When he withdrew from his Museum duties, his many friends established the Dr. Sean B. Murphy Fund for the acquisition of works on paper. Furthering Dr. Murphy’s legacy at the Museum, these funds have made it possible to acquire many masterworks.