Walter Tandy Murch papers
name: label: Creator
content: Murch, Walter
label: Names
content: Betty Parsons Gallery
label: Names
content: Brooklyn Museum
label: Names
content: Rhode Island School of Design
label: Names
content: Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1988
label: Names
content: Bocour, Leonard, 1910-1993
label: Names
content: Bonnard, Pierre, 1867-1947
label: Names
content: Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-
label: Names
content: Gonzalez, Xavier, 1898-1993
label: Names
content: Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001
label: Names
content: Murch, Katherine
label: Names
content: Murch, Walter Scott
label: Names
content: Scott, Katharine
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painting, American
label: Topic
content: Artists' studios -- Photographs
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: In 1967-1968, Walter Tandy Murch loaned the Archives of American Art material for microfilming. The artist's widow, Katharine Scott Murch, donated papers 1969.
creator: label: Creator
content: Murch, Walter
setName: label: See more items in
content: Walter Tandy Murch papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of New York City still life painter and art instructor Walter Tandy Murch date from 1880-1970 and measure 8.2 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, four diaries, correspondence with colleagues and family members, personal business records, exhibition files, notes and writings, two sketchbooks and additional art work, printed material, and photographs of Murch, family members, and art work.
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Walter Tandy Murch (1907-1967) of Toronto, Canada, was a painter and art teacher. His painting were primarily of still life subjects including machine parts, tools, broken dolls, and scientific equipment mingled with fruit, bread and fragments of rock as if seen through frosted glass.

Walter Tandy Murch was born on August 17, 1907, in Toronto, Canada, the son of Clara Louise Tandy and jeweller Walter Murch. Following his studies of architectural drafting and woodworking at the Technical High School in Toronto, he studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto with Arthur Lismer from 1924 to 1927. During the following year, Murch studied at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City with Arshile Gorky. From 1927 to 1929, he studied with Von Schlegel and K. H. Miller at the Art Students League. In 1930, Murch married Katharine Louise Scott.

From 1930 to 1933, Murch designed stained glass windows for Montague Castle, Inc., in New York City. Following a lengthy painting trip to Mexico in 1934, Murch returned to New York City and earned a living painting murals, designing department store windows, and creating illustrations for various magazines including Fortune and Scientific American.

Murch had his first solo exhibition at Betty Parsons' Wakefield Gallery in New York in 1941, and for many years Parsons was his principal dealer. Murch became a United States citizen in 1947.

Beginning in the 1950s, Murch taught at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, New York University, and at Boston University, and attended summer sessions at Yaddo and Skowhegan. In 1966, the Rhode Island School of Design organized Murch's first major retrospective.

Murch's work is in the collections of the Barnes Foundation, Brooklyn Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Walter Tandy Murch died on December 11, 1967 in New York City.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 8.2 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1880-1970
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.murcwalt
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Diaries
label: Type
content: Awards
label: Type
content: Woodcuts
label: Type
content: Resumes
label: Type
content: Lecture notes
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Notebooks
label: Type
content: Sketches
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1924-1968 (Box 1, 10; 24 folders)

Series 2: Diaries, 1941-1965 (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 3: Correspondence, 1880-1969 (Box 1-3, 10; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1928-1970 (Box 3-5; 2.9 linear feet)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1953-1968 (Box 6; 17 folders)

Series 6: Notes and Writings, 1907-1968 (Box 6-7, 10, OV 11; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Art Work, 1891-1967 (Box 7, 10, OV 11; 33 folders)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1926-1968 (Box 7-8, 10, OV 11; 50 folders)

Series 9: Photographs, 1908-1967 (Box 9-10; 41 folders)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Multiple accessions were microfilmed shortly after receipt on reels N70/17-N70/20, and 647; this film is no longer in circulation. All accessions were merged, arranged, and described by Jean Fitzgerald in June 2010.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Materials lent for microfilming are available on 35 microfilm reels N707, N708, N713, and N68-5 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Diaries
label: Genre/Form
content: Awards
label: Genre/Form
content: Woodcuts
label: Genre/Form
content: Resumes
label: Genre/Form
content: Lecture notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Notebooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketches
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
scopecontent: label: Scope and Content Note
content: The papers of New York City still life painter and art instructor Walter Tandy Murch date from 1880-1970 and measure 8.2 linear feet. Found within the papers are biographical materials, four diaries, correspondence with colleagues and family members, personal business records, exhibition files, notes and writings, two sketchbooks and additional art work, printed material, and photographs of Murch, family members, and art work.

Biographical material includes registration documents for births, marriages, and naturalization of Murch family members, biographical accounts, resumes, school and award certificates, passports, Selective Service records, and address books.

One diary by Walter Murch and three diaries by Katharine Murch contain sporadic entries briefly describing daily activities.

Correspondence primarily consists of letters exchanged between Murch, art schools and universities, arts organizations, galleries including the Betty Parsons Gallery, miscellaneous companies and publishers that commissioned commercial art work, and students. There are scattered letters from Isabel Bishop, Leonard Bocour, Xavier Gonzales, and Gyorgy Kepes. There is also correspondence with miscellaneous family members and letters to Katharine Scott. 

Personal business records include organizational membership records, family legal documents, insurance records, leases, loan and consignment records, contracts and invoices for art work sold by the Betty Parsons Gallery, expense notebooks, and other routine financial documents. 

Exhibition files include documentation of miscellaneous exhibitions of Murch's art work and of exhibitions juried and organized by Murch, including the Jean Dubuffet exhibition organized by Murch and retrospectives of Murch's art work at the Rhode island School of Design and at the Brooklyn Museum.

Notes and writings include the funeral register for Murch, miscellaneous address lists, travel notebooks of Murchs' 1934 trip to Mexico, miscellaneous notebooks concerning various art-related topics, classroom lectures and notes, and miscellaneous writings by others.

Art work includes two sketchbooks, drawings and sketches, woodcuts, sketches for "Novel in Woodcut," an oil portrait of a woman, a mock-up for book Notes on the Hound of Heaven, and art work by others including a sketchbook by Murch's son, Walter Scott Murch.

Printed material includes clippings, a copy of a handmade Collegiate School magazine The New Thinker, and exhibition announcements and catalogs. for Murch and others, press releases, prospectuses, reproductions of art work and book jackets designed by Murch, programs, brochures, a book about Pierre Bonnard, and miscellaneous printed material.

Photographs are of Murch, family members, travel, buildings, Murch's studio, Murch with colleagues, And art work by Murch and others. There are also photographs of various resource subjects.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Material
content: The Archives of American Art also holds material lent for microfilming (reels N707, N708, N713, and N68-5) including correspondence, notes, sketchbooks, clippings, exhibition catalogs, and photographs. Loaned materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.