Gerald Clery Murphy and Sara Sherman Wiborg were wealthy,

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

Americans who moved to the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

in the early 20th century and who, with their generous hospitality and flair for parties, created a vibrant social circle, particularly in the 1920s, that included a great number of artists and writers of the

Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort that reached early adulthood during World War I, and preceded the Greatest Generation. The social generation is generally defined as people born from 1883 to 1900, ...

. Gerald had a brief but significant career as a painter.

Gerald Murphy

Gerald Clery Murphy (March 26, 1888 – October 17, 1964) was born in Boston to the family that owned the

Mark Cross Company Mark Cross is an American luxury leather goods brand. Founded in 1845, the company started as a bridle, harness, and saddle maker before shifting to luxury leather goods. History Mark Cross opened its doors in Boston in 1845, eventually moving i ...

, sellers of fine leather goods. He was of an Irish-American background. His father was

Patrick Francis Murphy Patrick Francis Murphy (circa 1858 - November 24, 1931) was the owner of the Mark Cross Company in Manhattan, New York City, and was a legislator in Massachusetts. His daughter Esther was married to John Strachey and Chester Alan Arthur III, g ...

(1858–1931); he had two siblings:

Frederic Timothy Murphy Frederic Timothy Murphy (September 4, 1884 – May 23, 1924) was the heir of a wealthy Bostonian family who served during World War I in France and at the Battle of the Somme, was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and died few ye ...

(1884–1924) and Esther Knesborough (1897–1962). Gerald was an aesthete from his childhood. He was never comfortable in the boardrooms and clubs for which his father was grooming him. He failed the entrance exams at Yale University three times before matriculating, but he performed respectably there. He joined

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest Fraternities and sororities, fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active Colony (fraternity or sorority), colonies across No ...

and the

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones (also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death) is an undergraduate senior Secret society#Colleges and universities, secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class ...

society. He befriended a young freshman named

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

(Yale class of 1913) and brought him into Delta Kappa Epsilon. Murphy also introduced Porter to his friends, propelling him into writing music for Yale musicals.

Sara Sherman Wiborg

Sara Sherman Wiborg (November 7, 1883 – October 10, 1975) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio into the wealthy Wiborg family. Her father,

Frank Bestow Wiborg Frank Bestow Wiborg (April 30, 1855 – May 12, 1930) was a businessman from Cincinnati who, with Levi Addison Ault, created the ink manufacturer Ault & Wiborg Company. Early life He was born on April 30, 1855 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a son of ...

, was a manufacturing chemist and owner of his own printing ink and varnish company; he was a self-made millionaire by the age of 40. Her mother, Adeline Sherman Wiborg, was a member of the noted Sherman family, daughter of

Hoyt Sherman Hoyt Sherman (November 21, 1827 – January 25, 1904), a member of the prominent Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family, Sherman family, was an American banker. He served as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in 1866. Early life Hoyt Sherma ...

and niece of

Senator John Sherman John Sherman (May 10, 1823October 22, 1900) was an American politician from Ohio who served in federal office throughout the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both houses of the U. ...

and

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

general

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

. Raised in Cincinnati, she moved with her family to Germany for several years when she was a teenager so her father could concentrate on the European expansion of his company. The Wiborg family was easily accepted into the high society community of 20th-century Europe. While in Europe, Sara and her sisters Hoytie and Olga sang at high-class assemblies. Upon returning to the United States, the Wiborgs spent most of their time in New York City and later East Hampton, where they built the 30-room mansion The Dunes on 600 acres just west of the

Maidstone Club The Maidstone Club is a private country club on the Atlantic Ocean in the village of East Hampton, New York. Maidstone has both an 18-hole and nine-hole private golf course. The architect of the golf course's club house was Roger Bullard. Hist ...

in 1912. It was the largest estate in East Hampton up to that time. Wiborg Beach in East Hampton is named for the family.

Marriage

In East Hampton, Sara Wiborg and Gerald Murphy met when they were both adolescents. Gerald was five years younger than Sara, and for many years, they were more companions than romantically attached; they became engaged in 1915 when Sara was 32 years old. Sara's parents did not approve of their daughter marrying someone "in trade," and Gerald's parents were not much happier with the prospect, seemingly because his father found it difficult to approve of anything that Gerald did. After marrying, they lived at 50 West 11th Street in New York City, where they had three children. In 1921, they moved to Paris to escape the strictures of New York and their families' mutual dissatisfaction with their marriage. In Paris, Gerald took up painting, and they began to make the acquaintances for which they became famous. Eventually they moved to the

, where they became the center of a large circle of artists and writers of later fame, especially Zelda and

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his U.S.A. (trilogy), ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of Short story, short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'H ...

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. Parker ros ...

and

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays ...

. Prior to their arrival on the French Riviera, the region was experiencing a period when the fashionable only wintered there, abandoning the region during the high summer months. However, the activities of the Murphys fueled the same renaissance in arts and letters as did the excitement of Paris, especially among the cafés of

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

. In 1923, the Murphys convinced the

Hôtel du Cap The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc or simply Hôtel du Cap is a resort hotel in Antibes on the French Riviera. Opened in 1870 as a private mansion under the name Villa Soleil, it became a hotel in 1889. History The founder of France's ''Le Figaro'' newsp ...

to stay open for the summer so that they might entertain their friends, sparking a new era for the French Riviera as a summer haven. The Murphys eventually purchased a villa in

Cap d'Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to the northe ...

, named it Villa America, and resided there for many years. When the Murphys arrived on the Riviera, lying on the beach merely to enjoy the sun was not a common activity. Occasionally, someone went swimming, but the joys of being at the beach just for the sun were still unknown at the time. The Murphys, with their long forays and picnics at La Garoupe, introduced sunbathing on the beach as a fashionable activity. They had three children, Baoth, Patrick, and Honoria. In 1929, Patrick was diagnosed with tuberculosis. They took him to Switzerland and then returned to the U.S. in 1934, where Gerald stayed in Manhattan to run Mark Cross, serving as president of the company from 1934 to 1956; he never painted again. Sara settled in Saranac Lake, New York, to nurse Patrick, and Baoth and Honoria were put in boarding schools. In 1935, Baoth died unexpectedly of meningitis as a complication of measles, and Patrick succumbed to tuberculosis in 1937. Later, they lived at The Dunes. By 1941, the house proved impossible to rent, sell, or even maintain; the Murphys had it demolished, and they moved to the renovated dairy barn.

Death and legacy

Gerald died October 17, 1964, in East Hampton, two days after his friend Cole Porter. Sara died on October 10, 1975, in Arlington, Virginia. Nicole and Dick Diver of ''

Tender Is the Night ''Tender Is the Night'' is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young ...

'' by

are widely recognized as having been based on the Murphys, mainly from the marked physical similarities, although many of their friends, as well as the Murphys themselves, saw as much or more of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald's relationship and personalities in the couple than those of the Murphys. Ernest Hemingway's couple in ''

The Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genesis 2–3 and Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Ede ...

'' is not explicitly based on this pair, but given the similarities of the setting (Nice) and of the type of social group portrayed, there is clearly some basis for such an assumption. Guests of the Murphys often swam at Eden Roc, an event emulated in Hemingway's narrative.

based the main characters in his play '' J.B.'' on Gerald and Sara Murphy.

Calvin Tomkins Calvin Tomkins (born December 17, 1925) is an American author and art critic for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. Life and career Tomkins was born in Orange, New Jersey, on December 17, 1925. After graduating from Berkshire School, he attended Prince ...

's biography of Gerald and Sara Murphy ''Living Well Is the Best Revenge'' was published in ''The New Yorker'' in 1962, and

Amanda Vaill Amanda Vaill is an American writer and editor, noted for her non-fiction. She lives in New York City. A graduate of Harvard University, she worked in publishing before becoming a writer full-time in 1992. In the 1970s Vaill was an editor at Viki ...

documented their lives in the 1995 book ''Everybody Was So Young''. Both accounts are balanced, unlike some of the portrayals in the memoirs and fictitious works by their friends, including Fitzgerald and Hemingway. In 1982, Honoria Murphy Donnelly, the Murphys' daughter, wrote (with Richard N. Billings) ''Sara & Gerald: Villa America and After''. On July 12, 2007, a play by

Crispin Whittell Crispin Whittell (born 19 December 1969 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a British director and playwright. He spent much of his early life in Africa. He was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, and studied English at Cambridge Universi ...

titled ''Villa America'', based entirely on the relationships between Sara and Gerald Murphy and their friends, had its world premiere at the

Williamstown Theatre Festival The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. ...

with

Jennifer Mudge Jennifer Mudge (born August 16, 1978) is an American television and stage actress. Stage work Mudge attended Rhode Island College and trained at Trinity Repertory Company. Mudge made her screen debut in a 2003 episode of ''Hack''. She made her ...

playing Sara Murphy.

Paintings by Gerald Murphy

Gerald only painted from 1921 until 1929; he is known for his hard-edged

still life paintings A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been ...

in a Precisionist,

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

style. During the 1920s Gerald Murphy, along with other American modernist painters in Europe, notably

Charles Demuth Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (November 8, 1883 – October 23, 1935) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors and turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism. "Search the history of Amer ...

and Stuart Davis, created paintings that prefigured the pop art movement, containing pop culture imagery such as mundane objects culled from American commercial products and advertising design. *''Razor'', 1924 *''Watch'', 1925 *''Cocktail'', 1927 *''Wasp and Pear'', 1929 Gerald Murphy’s jazz-rhythmed painting titled ''Razor'' (1924) and the 6-by-6-foot ''Watch'' (1925) are part of the Dallas Museum’s permanent collection and are two of eight remaining paintings in Murphy’s 14-work oeuvre.''An American Painter in Paris: Gerald Murphy''. Exhibition catalogue, Dallas Museum of Art 1986
PDF online
. File:Gerald Murphy Razor Painting 1924.jpg, ''Razor'', Gerald Murphy, 1924,

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

File:Gerald Murphy Watch Painting 1925.jpg, ''Watch'', Gerald Murphy, 1925,

Paintings of Sara Murphy by Picasso

, a friend of Sara, painted her in several of his 1923 works: * Femme assise les bras croisés * Portrait de Sarah Murphy * Buste de Femme (Sara Murphy) * Femme assise en bleu et rose * Woman Seated in an Armchair

References

External links

Sara and Gerald Murphy Papers
at th
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University.
Britannica excerptAskArt linkNew Yorker articleNew Yorker slide show of paintings and photographs

Sara Murphy and writers of the Lost Generation discussed in ''Conversations from Penn State'' interview