Senior Art Historian
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
MRC 970
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
murrayr@saam.si.edu
Research Interests
Paintings and sculptures of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially mural painting from 1876 until 1918. Classical subjects by Elihu Vedder, Abbott Thayer, Kenyon Cox.
Current Research Projects
"Abbott Thayer: the Nature of Art." Monographic to survey the work of this major late nineteenth- century artist. Projected completion, 2004.
"Hope and Memory: Mural painting in the United States, 1876_1920." An extensive catalog and book-length account of public murals during the Progressive Era. Projected completion, 2001.
"Kenyon Cox, N.A." Journal article to survey the work of this influential artist and critic of the late nineteenth century, project completion 2001.
Recent Publications
"H. Siddons Mowbray and Murals of the American Renaissance." In The Italian Presence in American Art, 1860-1920. Fordham University Press, 1991.
"John Norton, Mural Painter." In John Warner Norton. Urbana: University of Illinois for the Illinois State Museum, 1992.
American Impressions: Masterworks from American Art Forum Collections, 1875-1935. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks in Association with the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1993.
"The Case of Mrs. Watson." American Art 7 (Fall 1993): 106-09
Elihu Vedder's Drawings for the Rubaiyat. Exhibition brochure, NMAA, 1995.
"Painted Words: Murals in the Library of Congress." In Art and Architecture of the Jefferson Building, The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress and W.W. Norton, Inc., 1997.
"Elihu Vedder's Drawings for the Rubáiyát," American Art Review 10 (March -April 1998): 108-11.
"Murals in the Boston Public Library and the Library of Congress," In The Library of Congress Centennial Papers, The National Capitol Historical Society, to appear in 2000.
"Abbott Thayer's Stevenson Memorial," American Art 13, no.2 (Summer 1999): 2-25.