A major figure in the Boston School style of painting and also as a painter in the Tonalist style emanating from Barbizon, France, Herman Murphy did a variety of subject matter beginning with portraits and figure studies and later painting still lifes, seascapes and landscapes. He was especially noted for his floral still lifes, a subject he turned to in the 1920s, later in his career, and depicted with Impressionist style, classical format, sculptural appearance of featured subject, and decorative background patterning. Many of these still lifes had images of exquisite Chinese porcelains, bronzes, rugs, and antiques.

Murphy was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts and became a student of Edmund Tarbell and Frank Be...