[caption id="attachment_54029" align="alignnone" width="800"] Sara & Gerald Murphy with their children on a donkey in Houlgate, France, June 1922.[/caption]
The East Hampton Historical Society will present “Living Well is the Best Revenge: A Jazz Age Fable of Sara and Gerald Murphy” at the Clinton Academy Museum at 151 Main Street in East Hampton. The opening reception is on Friday, August 5 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The exhibition will remain on view through October 10 and will be open on Saturday’s from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. There is no charge to enter, but donations are greatly appreciated.
This exhibition tells the story of the couple from when they first met in East Hampton. To many people in the era, Gerald and Sara Murphy were regarded as the most beautiful couple of the 1920’s. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tender is the Night,” Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast,” Philip Barry’s play, “Hotel Universe,” John Dos Passos’ “Big Money,” and Pablo Picasso’s “Woman in White,” were all influenced by the couple.
The show will be a combination of archival photographs, paintings, decorative arts, clothing, memorabilia, and ephemera. The exhibition was inspired by a gift that was given to the East Hampton Historical Society. They received nine antique file boxes filled with Wiborg family (Sara’s parents) papers that dealt with affairs having to do with their East Hampton summer mansion, the Dunes, over eight summers that began in 1912. The Murphy’s granddaughter, Laura Donnelly, donated the items to the historical society.
While enjoying the music of Cole Porter, you’re invited to take yourself back in time and peek into the lives of the Jazz Age’s most intriguing couple.
For more information, visit easthamptonhistory.org.