WALTER MURCH 1907-1968
The Wall, 1959
Oil on canvas, 211/2 X 31" (53.98 x 78.74 cm.)
Unsigned
Museum purchase, 968-0-177

I think a painter paints best what he thinks about the most. For me, this is about objects objects from my childhood, present surroundings, or a chance object that stimulates my interest, around which accumulate these thoughts. I suppose you could say I am more concerned with the lowly and forgotten object, the one people discard because they are finished with it or see it in a certain logical automatic way that I would like to break."
This general statement made by Walter Murch about his work is particularly relevant to The Wall. Over the course of his career, Murch chose as subjects such fragments as a clock mechanism, a manifold, and a light bulb and combined these with conventional still-life objects such as oranges, apples, or eggs. His rendering of these items emphasized the process of painting.
Murch's mature period as an artist occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, during the heyday of such contemporary styles as Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Super Realism. While each of these was touted in turn for its significance to the development of art, Murch doggedly pursued an individual aesthetic that could be seen as coinciding with one artistic fashion while possibly inspiring another. His interest in the act of painting aligned his style with Abstract Expressionism, while his fascination with common objects related some of his work to Pop Art. In spite of these coincidences, Murch's mode was unquestionably his own, and it has continued to defy clear categorization.
The Wall exemplifies Murch's idiosyncratic manner in its concentration on an ordinary object, its painterly atmosphere and dramatic light effects, its relatively small scale, and its frontal composition. His choice of a wall fragment heightens the importance of this cast-off article. Both as a refutation and a continuation of the academic tradition of the noble subject, this seemingly undistinguished bit of civilization's detritus is elevated to importance through its position in the painting. There is a Dadaist cast to Murch's inclusion of the ignoble ready-made in the realm of art. In depicting his subject on canvas rather than actually presenting the object itself, he attains a surrealistic sense of disorientation and fantasy. Transcending time, the fragment appears as an archaeological specimen signifying a past life.
In contrast to the work of many contemporary artists, who preferred painting on a large scale, especially Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock, Murch's paintings are intimate in size. Since Murch showed in the Betty Parsons Gallery at the same time as Pollock, there is justification for comparison. Although there was a dramatic difference in the degrees of abstraction, both artists used accidental effects to achieve a painted atmosphere. Even though Pollock's mature work is completely abstract, paintings by these two artists have in common a loose application of pigment, ultimately establishing independent universes on canvas. Murch, like Pollock, also tended to honor the flat properties of canvas; Murch's subject matter is inevitably lined up along a frontal plane. Moreover, each artist exploited the properties of paint to achieve surface textures and movement.
The Wall exemplifies Murch's own concern for creating relationships with the picture plane. The flat form of the fragment itself is positioned parallel to the painting's surface. Even though it is only a fragment, the artist has endowed it with emphatic monumentality. An accompanying pear draws the viewer's eye across the surface on another horizontal trajectory, and also functions as a natural counterpoint to the manufactured item. This juxtaposition, coupled with the enhanced importance of two mundane objects situated centrally, establishes a sense of unusual presence. A feeling of preciousness is heightened by a warm luminosity that picks out these humble subjects. This extraordinary emphasis on otherwise overlooked articles creates an unreal or mystical aura.
Thus, The Wall is characteristic of Murch's mature oeuvre in subject matter, technique, and content. Meticulous attention paid to the lowly object in terms of visual and tactile sensation lends a unique and memorable mood to this artist's work. Just as he held his own ground during his life, his paintings have continued to appear unique, original and, thereby, important.

JUDY COLLISCHAN