Greetings from South Bend and the campus of the University of Notre Dame, home of the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. It’s a jewel in Notre Dame’s crown and a central part of the university’s new arts initiative and impressive arts district. The museum, the last arts project for architect Robert A. M. Stern, opened in late 2023. I hadn’t visited South Bend for a few years and had only misty watercolor memories of the old, cramped Snite Museum. It was high time for the next level, and the prestigious university, among the country’s best, raised the bar to the top notch. What I saw is an attractive, commodious, well balanced, and perfectly varied new home for a fine collection, far better than I remembered. It’s the museum’s 150th anniversary, too.
The 70,000-square-foot Raclin Murphy is named for South Bender Ernestine Raclin, Notre Dame’s first woman trustee. Her father was an alumnus and trustee. Ernestine, her daughter Carmen Murphy; and her son-in-law Chris Murphy, a Notre Dame alumnus, made the lead gift. Coming from a South Bend family is a touch of kismet since the museum is both the university art museum serving Notre Dame students and faculty and the civic museum for South Bend and St. Joseph County, an area of about 300,000 people. Notre Dame is a good citizen. The art museum hosts thousands of local school children every year and is free and open to all comers. Costing $70 million for construction, it’s economically efficient as well as lovely.
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