Murray Percival Bewley is most often noted for his oil portraits of children, and, to a lesser extent, his watercolor landscapes. He is considered by some to have been the leading Texas portrait painter of the twentieth century, although he spent much time away from Texas.

Bewley was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas in June 1884 and graduated from high school there. His initial exposure to art training was in Fort Worth with a teacher named Viginia Linnen, and then he went to Denver where he studied at the Denver Staudents School of Art during summer school. He also studied at the Art Institute in Chicago, the National Academy of Design in New York, and the Pennsylvania Fine Art Academy in Philadelphia. William Merritt Chase, Celia Beaux, and Robert Henri are some of the well-known artists with whom he studied, and in 1906 he went to Florence, Italy with Chase and then to Paris when Chase advised him to establish a studio and stay out of school..

Bewley was a traveler most of his career, although he continued to return to Fort Worth, Texas to paint portraits of friends and family. He spent time in Paris, France, between 1905 and 1910, and his works were seen in the Paris Salons through 1914. In 1913, he returned to Fort Worth where he spent time painting, and then in 1916 he went to New York, where he taught and painted until 1924. Then he moved to California until the mid 1930s when he returned to Paris. After that he returned to California, living in Beverly Hills, and then again went to France where he died in 1956 in Lyons.

Memberships for Bewley include the Allied Artists of America, the Salmagundi Club, and the Texas Fine Arts Association. Among his exhibition venues are the Paris Salon, 1908-1909; the Art Institute of chicaog, and the Pennyslvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Source:
John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors, and Graphic Artists"