Rowley Murphy (28 May 1891 – 1975) was a marine painter, illustrator, and designer of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. He was the first Official Canadian war artist of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

Biography

Murphy was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. He studied at the Toronto Technical School, the Central Ontario School of Art and Industrial Design (now OCAD University) with C.M. Manly and Robert Holmes,A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1–8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

with J. Alden Weir among other teachers, where he was awarded two Cresson European Travel Scholarships in 1913 and 1914. In Philadelphia, he painted

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

s on the city waterfront, after which he studied art in Europe during the 1920s. He was a part-time instructor at the Ontario College of Art (1927–1930), and a full-time member of the staff from 1931 to 1962. He joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1940 and won a prize in the First Victory Loan Poster Competition that year. In 1941–1942, he began to paint

ship camouflage Ship camouflage is a form of military deception in which a ship is painted in one or more colors in order to obscure or confuse an enemy's visual observation. Several types of marine camouflage have been used or prototyped: blending or crypsis, ...

designs and this activity continued for some time. At least three ships were painted with his designs, HMCS ''Hamilton'', HMCS ''Annapolis'' (104) and HMCS ''Assiniboine''. For the next few years, he created war records drawings and paintings, going to sea at his own expense. In June 1943, Murphy became the first official war artist of the Royal Canadian Navy. He served as an

Official War Artist A war artist is an artist either commissioned by a government or publication, or self-motivated, to document first-hand experience of war in any form of illustrative or depictive record.Imperial War Museum (IWM)header phrase, "war shapes lives" ...

from June 1943 until May 1944 and held the naval rank of lieutenant. He painted mostly in the

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt () is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Jua ...

area but also painted pictures on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. He also did illustrations in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

'', the ''

Canadian Magazine The ''Canadian Magazine of Politics, Science, Art and Literature'' was the premiere monthly literary journal of Anglophone Canada for three decades. History and profile Edited first by James Gordon Mowat then by John Alexander Cooper, the first ...

'', '' Saturday Night'', the ''Canadian Home Journal'', ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

Weekly'', and '' Toronto's 100 Years''. He continued teaching at OCAD after the war as well as teaching for the Ontario Department of Education and wrote and illustrated articles of marine interest, as well as writing articles such as one on the

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse The Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Hanlan's Point, the most westerly of the Toronto Islands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Begun in 1808, it is the oldest existing lighthouse on the Great Lakes, and one of Toronto's oldest bu ...

on the

Toronto Islands The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the ...

. His first public show was in New York in 1919 and he had many exhibits of his work afterwards. His work is in the collection of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (CWM) () is a National museums of Canada, national museum on the military history of Canada, country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military hist ...

Art Gallery of Hamilton The Art Gallery of Hamilton (AGH) is an art museum located in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The museum occupies a building on King Street (Hamilton, Ontario), King Street West in downtown Hamilton, designed by Trevor P. Garwood-Jon ...

and many other institutions. He was a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

;

Ontario Society of Artists The Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) was founded in 1872. It is Canada's oldest continuously operating professional art society. When it was founded at the home of John Arthur Fraser, seven artists were present. Besides Fraser himself, Marmaduke ...

;

Canadian Society of Graphic Art Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

; Canadian Society for Education Through Art; Great Lakes Historical Society (Cleveland); Model Shipbuilders' Guild (Detroit); Detroit Marine Historical Society; Niagara Historical Society; York Pioneer and Historical Society (Toronto). Murphy died in Toronto in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Rowley 1891 births 1975 deaths Canadian male painters Artists from Toronto 20th-century Canadian artists World War II artists 20th-century Canadian war artists Royal Canadian Navy officers Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II Academic staff of OCAD University