April 8, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information contact:

Crystal Albers, assistant director of communications/web editor, at 816-383-5100 or calbers@angus.org

Angus Artist Recuperating

American Angus Association^® accepting cards, words of encouragement for Frank Champion Murphy.

Longtime Angus artist Frank Champion Murphy is recuperating this week at an Illinois rehabilitation center following injuries resulting in a broken pelvis.

In recognition of Murphy’s contributions to the Angus industry, the American Angus Association is currently accepting cards, well-wishes or notes for the artist and his wife of more than 65 years, Evelyn. Send your comments for Murphy to: American Angus Association, ATTN: Frank C. Murphy, 3201 Frederick Ave., Saint Joseph, MO, 64506; or angus@angus.org.

Murphy is best known for his nearly 60-year career creating artwork for the American Angus Association^® and its entities. Murphy produced more than 80 paintings and drawings featuring Angus cattle, beginning in 1951 when the Chicago, Ill., artist was commissioned by Angus public relations masterminds Lloyd Miller and Harry Barger to illustrate the popular advertising campaign for the then-American Aberdeen-Angus Breeders’ Association (the name was changed to American Angus Association five years later).

The quality of his art and contrast of those early drawings depicted well the Angus breed’s physical attributes, black hair and hides that — until then — proved difficult to capture with the relatively primitive photography and printing processes of the times.

He was quickly commissioned for additional drawings and continued to illustrate Association national advertisements — approximately 45 in all — from 1951 to 1975, until photographs were introduced to the campaign in 1976.

Murphy continued to actively produce artwork of Angus cattle in a variety of settings until 2009, including more than 37 oil and acrylic paintings, most of which hang at Association headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo.

In 1973, Murphy’s painting of the first Angus bull imported from Scotland appeared on the 8-cent postage stamp to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Angus in the U.S. It and other paintings were reproduced as promotional prints and distributed to thousands of Angus enthusiasts, livestock publications and others throughout the world. In fact, the Association and Angus Foundation continue to offer more than 15 different framing prints featuring Murphy’s art.

Murphy’s dedication to the Angus breed and its people has continued more than a half century. His artwork has generated thousands of dollars for the Angus Foundation, and the Angus Journal has featured six covers in the last five years displaying the 90-year-old’s most recent works.

Thanks to Murphy and other contributing artists, today the American Angus Association is home to the world’s largest collection of contemporary beef cattle art.

More than 130 works — including oil paintings, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, wash drawings, charcoal sketches and sculptures — record the evolution of the Angus breed in the United States.

Angus artwork can be viewed in the book, “Angus Art at the American Angus Association,” available through the Angus Foundation at www.angusfoundation.org, or directly via tour of Association headquarters in Saint Joseph, Mo. Call 816-383-5100 for further information.

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