ArchivesSpace at the University of Iowa

Scope and Contents

This work was commissioned by Marvin Sackner to deal with commemoration of his therapeutic medical invention, the AT-101. Nadau approached the idea in a playful, droll manner. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents The drawing is typical of Murry's style, i.e., obsessive calligraphic markings overlaid with abstract colored markings. Murry was born in 1908 and died in 1988. Phyllis Kind Gallery Internet: Born in Sandersville, GA. Having no formal education, J.B. Murry labored from childhood to the age of sixty-five as a tenant farmer in rural Glasock County, Georgia. Murry married Cleo Kitchens in 1929 and with her raised a family of eleven children. At the time of his death Murry had sixteen grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. In 1977 Murry, suffering from a hip problem, came under the medical care of Dr. William Rawlings, Jr., who took an interest in his patient's personal as well as physical well-being. Soon after becoming acquainted with Dr. Rawling's, whom Murry described as his "spiritual doctor," Murry had a vision in which he was charged with spreading the word of God through the creation of "spirit-script." After the vision, Murry produced...