• Home
  • Posts
  • RMA Presents: “The WWII Art & Letters of John Cullen Murphy”

RMA Presents: “The WWII Art & Letters of John Cullen Murphy”

By Fred Wu

Watercolor of 2nd Gunner’s Mate Snider by John Cullen Murphy

At the May 3 meeting of the Greenwich Retired Men’s Association Hollister Sturges introduced the speaker, Andrew Woelflein, a trustee of the Ann SK Brown Military Collection at Brown University. Woelflein’s topic was “The WWII Art & Letters of John Cullen Murphy; an American Soldier-Artist in the Pacific Theater and Longtime Greenwich Resident After the War.” Woelflein is a financial services executive, serving as the chief strategy officer at Monex, a global fintech provider of corporate foreign exchange and international payment services. He holds a BA from Brown University in European History and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Presenting in Greenwich on John Cullen Murphy is appropriate because Murphy lived and worked in Greenwich for many decades after the end of WWII. Woelflein thanked Hollister for the introduction and recognized three special guests in the audience: Lennie DeCsepel, a longtime Woelflein family friend, and whose husband John served the RMA Speaker Program for many years; Esther Bushell, Woelflein’s 7th and 9th grade English teacher; and Kate Murphy, daughter of John Cullen Murphy.

In 1994, in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII, a group of about 100 of Murphy’s letters to home were donated to Brown University. After a long gap in time, in 2012, Woelflein serendipitously met Meg Murphy, sister of Kate, at a high school reunion. She told him that she had John’s diary – it was actually a collection of 1000 letters which included about 50 very detailed sketches that in themselves are works of art. This primary source information is valuable to historians, researchers, documentarians, writers, and museums. Ms. Murphy also donated a set of posters drawn by John Cullen Murphy that illustrated the atrocities of the Japanese military toward American POWs.

John Cullen Murphy was born in 1919 in New York, moved to Chicago, and then to New Rochelle in 1930. While he was playing baseball in New Rochelle, he was spotted by Norman Rockwell, who used him a model when the scheduled model did not show up. The image was used for a cover of the Saturday Evening Post, and Murphy’s acquaintance with Rockwell was to prove invaluable.

Murphy’s father had died prior to the start of WWII. His dying wish was that his sons would all serve in the military. After art school, John went to basic training in 1941, a year before Pearl Harbor; he was posted to the Philippines, New Guinea, and Australia. Murphy advanced from buck private to major in four years.

Murphy wrote a letter home every couple of days. The letters had 16 big themes, and each letter touched on two to five themes. Some were about administration of the mail, making money from painting, needing art supplies. Next was news of his friends or brothers and his own action in the war. Another theme was the art he was doing, painting enlisted people, then officers. He wrote about pranks, like chasing jackrabbits in a Jeep.

He wrote about books that he read and wanted to read. He requested a wide variety of books be sent to him. He wrote about collaborating with Norman Rockwell on covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

Murphy was a soldier first, but was able to practice his art in his spare time. With his art school training, he was able to supplement his salary; as a private he would get $30 a month, but he made at least that much from his art.

His reputation as an artist preceded his arrival in the Pacific. As a result, he was assigned as an aide to General Marquat. He helped with hosting visiting generals and enjoyed the amenities. On off days he hiked in the jungle and sketched native villages and people. He painted scenes of boxing matches, card games, Filipino guerrilla soldiers, soldiers relaxing. He sketched Australian generals, kangaroos, New Guinea natives, expatriated Japanese soldiers, etc.

Woelflein maintained that there were five ways that his art contributed to the war effort. Portraits – over 60 of Allied generals starting with pencil sketches, adding water colors later. He would send the originals home, and then make a second copy for the generals. Officers wrote him letters of appreciation for the portraits. He painted MacArthur but only through photos, not in person, perhaps because MacArthur didn’t want anyone to think he had enough time on his hands to sit for a portrait. He also painted Mrs. MacArthur and their son, Arthur. Training posters – Murphy created Benny the Bungler as a character who always messes up, warning soldiers not to be like that. Communications – Newsmap was printed weekly to update soldiers on progress of the war. Posters – about Japanese atrocities toward POWs, like beheadings. Morale – his caricatures of ordinary soldiers were popular and raised morale.

After the war, Murphy was awarded a Bronze Star. He married Joan Byrne in 1951, settled in Cos Cob, and had eight children. In later years he was best known as the illustrator of the comic strip Prince Valiant.

After Q&A, Woelflein gave Hollister a copy of his book about the Murphy collection.

To see the full presentation, go to https://greenwichrma.org, cursor to “Speakers” and click on “Speaker Videos.”

The RMA’s upcoming presentation, “Water and Food Security in a Changing World” by Peter G. McCornick, is scheduled for 11 AM on Wednesday, May 17th. Achieving food security around the globe while reducing the stress on our limited water resources is an enormous and complicated challenge. It requires tangible and sustainable progress at the local level, where there is a unique mix of biophysical, social, cultural, financial, market access, institutional arrangements, and stage of development challenges.

For more than half a century, our food systems have evolved to meet the needs of a changing world but at a cost to biodiversity, water resources, and soil health. There are many challenges ahead, including continuing population growth, economic growth, climate change, and degradation of resources, especially water. By 2050, it is anticipated that more than half the global population (about five billion people) will live in water stressed regions of the world, many of which are already struggling to secure sufficient nutritious food. Water insecurity is the greatest threat to global food security.

Drawing on insights from different contexts, including Rwanda, Indonesia, and Nebraska, Professor Peter G. McCornick, executive director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI), will examine the challenges and opportunities in developing viable technical, practice and policy solutions that meet the needs of producers, communities, water managers, decisions makers, and investors.

Dr. McCornick is a tenured professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering and a courtesy professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to joining DWFI, he was the deputy director general of research at the International Water Management Institute. With an international career focused on improving the sustainable management of water resources, he has lived and led interdisciplinary research and implemented programs on water, agriculture, and the environment in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North America.

To stream the presentation by Dr. McCornick at 11 AM on Wednesday, May 17th, click on https://bit.ly/30IBj21. This presentation will also be available on local public access TV channels, Verizon FIOS channel 24 and Optimum (Cablevision) channel 79.

Note: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the speakers. They are not intended to represent the views of the RMA or its members.

RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees, regardless of gender. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to https://greenwichrma.org/, or contact our membership chairman (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org).

Related Posts
Loading...