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.
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.
