Book Description

The first complete monograph of artist Walter Tandy Murch explores the life of an unsung yet remarkable artist whose paintings and illustrations of everyday objects and mechanical devices are familiar yet mysterious, or as George Lucas puts it, “in a magical middle.” Walter Tandy Murch (1907–1967) is best known for his enigmatic, dreamlike still life paintings of everyday objects and mechanical devices in a style that falls between Magic Realist, Surrealist, and Realist. This volume offers the most comprehensive collection of his work, including his striking commercial work for magazines and his paintings from the extensive collection of George Lucas. Lucas calls himself a “fanboy” of Murch’s art—paintings and drawings he describes as simultaneously “functional and dreamy, simple and complicated; they are quiet yet grab your attention.” The tension of these opposing reactions draws viewers into Murch’s still lifes, which caught the attention of famed art dealer Betty Parsons, who also represented artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly, and Agnes Martin. Murch showed his work at Parsons’s gallery for nearly thirty years. With illuminating essays and extensive plates sections displaying Murch’s works, this celebration of an exceptionally talented and visionary artist is long overdue.