Martin J. Murray (1908 - 1997)

High School Freshman, 1948, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 36 x 30 inches, exhibited 14th Annual New Year Show, Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, OH, January 1 to 30, 1949, no. 77 (listed in the catalog) (see also Watercolors Better in 1949 Show, The Binghamton Press, Binghamton, NY, January 7, 1949 (illustrated))

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Martin J. Murray's High School Freshman captures an awkward, suspended moment of adolescence with a haunting mix of formality and vulnerability. The young man, dressed in a yellow sweater and oversized brown coat, stands facing a mirror, his expression distant and uncertain. His body language and gaze convey discomfort—he is caught between boyhood and manhood, dressed like an adult but still visibly awkward in the role. Behind him a Yale pennant is on the opposite wall reflecting future aspirations. The mirror’s ornate frame with curling other-worldly tendrils seemingly suggests the distorted way adolescents sometimes perceive themselves and the complexity of finding one's own character. The carefully arranged hat, tie, and towel on the chair add to the staged quality of the scene, as if the young man is being presented before he’s ready. In its composition and symbolic details, the painting evokes the confusion, self-consciousness, and unsteady formation of identity that often define the threshold of adulthood.

Martin Joseph Murray was a Rhode Island-based artist who worked in oils and watercolors. A native of Newport, Murray studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the John Frazier School of Painting in Provincetown, MA. He was a member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Club, the Art Association of Newport, the Artist's Equity Association, and College Art Association. Murray exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fleming Museum of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Butler Art Institute, and with the Providence Art Club and Newport Art Association. His work in the collection of Brown University. In addition to his fine art practice, Murray served as an art instructor, including at Vermont Junior College. Murray is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and other standard references.