American Dioramas, American Murals and American Muralists
Introduction
This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "American Dioramas, American Murals and American Muralists." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to these articles and essays. The date at the end of each title is the Resource Library publication date.
Following articles and essays from Resource Library are links to valuable online resources found outside our website. Links may be to museums' articles about exhibits, plus much more topical information based on our online searches. Following online resources is information about other offline resources.
Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.
Articles and essays from Resource Library in chronological order:
William Palmer: Drawing from Life (9/2/09)
The Mural Tradition; essay by Edmund Barry Gaither (8/5/09)
Preserving a Legacy: Wishard Hospital Murals (1/29/09)
Forgotten Dreams: The Paintings of Edward Grant (1/13/09)
For the People: American Mural Drawings of the 1930s and 1940s; essay by Patricia E. Phagan (5/1/08)
The Holy Experiment: Violet Oakley Mural Studies (11/6/07)
Grant Wood's Corn Room Mural (9/17/07)
Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint (7/23/07)
(above: Tile mural above the entry doors to the Casino. Catalina Island, CA. photo 2007 by John Hazeltine)
For the People: American Mural Drawings of the 1930s and 1940s (1/23/07)
Reginald Marsh, U.S. Custom House Murals: Reframed and Reseen; article by Lisa Leavitt (7/29/05)
John Biggers: My America, The 1940s and 1950s -- Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings (1/31/05)
Edmund Lewandowski Murals Uncovered at the Flint Institute of Arts (11/30/04)
Eric Bransby: Draftsman and Muralist; essay by William Underwood Eiland (4/28/04)
The Art of Healing: The Wishard Art Collection (2/23/04)
Those Who Came Before Us: The Indian Murals of H. D. Bugbee (6/22/01)
Exeter's Mural Art: photoessay by John Hazeltine (5/16/00)
Editor's Note: In A 2021 article titled Wallscapes...are they right for me?, Tim Rowe says: "Wallscapes are large murals that are typically painted or plastered to the façade of a building. These larger-than-life canvases command maximum attention and provide high-impact exposure. There's no standard size or format for a wallscape, considering buildings come in all shapes and sizes. Some wallscapes even spill beyond the building covering sidewalks and even parking spaces."
In order to cover large wall surfaces, artists may employ vinyl wraps instead of hand painting. Vinyl wraps may be used for enlarging photographs or paintings recorded on photographic film, digital media or created on traditional surfaces such as canvas, wood panels, or paper. They may be more economical than fresco paintings when a relatively small image is greatly magnified by digital processes. Wallscapes can be billboard advertising or a fine art presentation.
(above: Los Rios Street, 2022, vinyl wrap based on a photograph by The Alliance for San Juan Art. Image courtesy of The Alliance for San Juan Art.)
An example of a vinyl wrap based on a photograph by The Alliance for San Juan Art, placed on a San Juan Capistrano, CA utility box, is seen above. An example of a vinyl wrap on a 20 x 80 foot exterior wall in Capistrano Beach, CA is shown in an OC Register article.
From other websites:
Albert Henry Krehbiel (1873-1945), American Impressionist Painter and Muralist: Murals Exhibit from Krehbiel Corporation. Accessed August, 2015.
Arkansas Post Office Murals from University of Central Arkansas. Accessed August, 2015.
Art in the Atrium: Kerry James Marshall an exhibit held September 20, 2014 - February 26, 2009 - October 11, 2011 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Includes videos. Accessed April, 2015
Bridging Two American Muralists: Daniel Garber and Edward Steichen is a 2018 exhibit at the Michener (James A.) Art Museum which says: "Bridging Two American Muralists allows visitors to see how artists engaged with their environment to present their own viewpoints -- Garber's work, representing the idealized depiction of the Delaware River with its native plantings and geography, is juxtaposed with Steichen's work, a symbolic painting utilizing nature and flowers that he cultivated as the basis and inspiration for its composition." Also see MAM page. Accessed 12/19
Celebrating Heroes: American Mural Studies of the 1930s and 1940s from the Steven and Susan Hirsch Collection is an exhibit held September 2 - December 18, 2016 at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. The museum says: "The 1930s and 1940s were a golden age for murals in America where the everyday worker rose to the status of a primary hero. The Great Depression forged a renewed belief in the centrality of the laborer, and the federal government sponsored numerous work programs, including those for visual artists. Wall paintings about larger-than-life miners, farmers, and others covered walls in public buildings across the country. Preliminary ideas played out in sketches, however, and almost fifty of these are displayed in this exhibition, which honors gifts donated by Susan and Steven Hirsch, class of 1971." The museum posted a news release and checklist for the exhibit. Accessed August, 2016.
Chicano Mural Movement from the Texas State Historical Association Accessed August, 2015.
City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is a comprehensive website devoted to "world's largest collection of outdoor public art" with sections featuring images of murals, how a mural is made, and more. Accessed August, 2015.
"Chatham Post Office Mural Depicts Southern Harvest" by Herman E. Melton, Special to the Star-Tribune, Chatham, Virginia, March 21, 2001. Accessed August, 2015.
Courthouse Murals, by Dianna Cammarota, from Boise City Revue. Accessed August, 2015.
Edgar Paxson Murals, an exhibit held June 13 - September 06, 2014 at the Missoula Art Museum. Includes audio and video. Accessed March, 2015.
Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers is a 2017 exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art which says: "Upon completion of the conservation treatment, the life-size mural paintings will go on view September 5, 2017 through May 28, 2018 in the exhibition Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers (1910-1914), overseen by The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art at the DMA, Sue Canterbury." Accessed 11/17 -- Also see information on same exhibit at James A. Michener Art Museum Accessed 5/20
Ethel Magafan (1916-1993) American Muralist; Painter of Abstract Western Landscapes by Alisha Patrick, from Sullivan Goss. Accessed August, 2015.
For the People, an exhibit held July 12 - March 11, 2007 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Includes news release. From Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Accessed August, 2015.
George Beattie's Agriculture Murals, August 01, 2012 - January 20, 2013 from Georgia Museum of Art. Accessed August, 2015.
Grand Themes Need Great Art by James F. Cooper, From American Arts Quarterly: Volume 24, number 3 (about Graydon Parrish's commemorative mural The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001) Accessed August, 2015.
The Great Wall of Los Angeles: Judith F. Baca's Experimentations in Collaboration and Concrete is a 2017 exhibit at the University of California, Northridge, Art Galleries which says: "As part of the Getty's initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, the University Art Galleries at California State University Northridge (CSUN) presents Judith F. Baca's Experiments in Collaboration and Concrete, an exhibition surveying the nearly fifty-year career of mural making by CSUN's alumna Judith F. Baca, Los Angeles's premiere muralist, mentor, educator, and community activist."Accessed 12/17
"The History of Dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History," an essay by Steve Quinn, from Wonderstruck. Accessed August, 2015.
Indians at the Post Office: Native Themes in New Deal-Era Murals from Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Accessed August, 2015.
Inside the Masters' Studios: Richard Haas Dioramas is a 2019 exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art which says: "Although best known as a master of trompe l'oeil illusionistic painting, Richard Haas, a Wisconsin-born artist who now resides in New York City, also began creating diorama boxes in the 1960s as a means of exploring in intimate, three-dimensional scale, the workspaces of the great masters of art history." Also see artist's website Accessed 7/19
Keith Haring: The End of the Line is a 2017 exhibit at the Cranbrook Art Museum which says: "The Cranbrook mural introduced stylistic shifts of intentional drips and blotches, but it also depicted characters he continued to explore in Apocalypse and The Valley, such as jesters, masks, skulls, martyrs, and other religious icons." Accessed 12/17
The Lompoc Mural Society says: "Lompoc's first mural was of the "Flower Industry" painted in 1990 by Santa Monica artist, Art Mortimer. Today, Lompoc has close to 30 major commissioned murals in its inventory. They all depict a part of Lompoc's history and are located primarily in the old downtown area. There are also dozens of smaller murals within the community. Some of these have been part of the Mural Society's Community Canvas Project and Outdoor Art Competition. Many privately created murals have also sprung up all over town. A member of the Global Mural Arts & Cultural Tourism Association & founding member of CALPAMS (California Public Art & Mural Society), the Society and the Chamber of Commerce hosted the first California Regional Symposium in 2001 here in Lompoc. Accessed 7/21
Los Angeles Murals by Ruth Wallach, from USC Libraries. Accessed August, 2015.
Lost Mural of Ellis Island, an exhibit held January 10 through March 23, 2014 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon. Accessed March, 2015.
Mexican American Exterior Murals by Daniel D. Arreola, Geographical Review. Vol. 74, No. 4 (Oct., 1984), pp. 409-424, from Jstor. Accessed August, 2015.
Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles is an encyclopedic site of murals, muralists and other information. Accessed August, 2015.
¡Murales Rebeldes!: Contested Chicanao Public Art is a 2017 exhibit at the California Historical Society Museum which says: "¡Murales Rebeldes! presents stories of eight Chicana/o murals that were censored, neglected, whitewashed, and even destroyed. They are a small fraction of the hundreds of murals under siege." Accessed 11/17
Murals of Lane County OR, a photo Essay by Herman Krieger, from Herman Krieger. Accessed August, 2015.
Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County diorama artists from Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County. Accessed August, 2015.
New Deal Post Office Murals, from Parma Conservation, Ltd. Accessed August, 2015.
Off The Wall: New Deal Post Office Murals by Patricia Raynor, from Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Accessed August, 2015.
Pictures of Post Office Murals from around the country, from San Antonio Alamo Area Local APWU AFL-CIO. Accessed August, 2015.
Post Office Murals from Texas State Historical Association. Accessed August, 2015.
Post Office New Deal Artwork in Missouri, from wpamurals.com. Accessed August, 2015.
Richard Haines (1906-1984), American Muralist, Modernist, Geometic Abstractionist, by Frank Goss, from Sullivan Goss. Accessed August, 2015.
Shara Hughes: Carving out Fresh Options is a 2018 exhibit at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park which says: " This imaginary landscape plunges viewers into boldly colored, hallucinatory spaces. Sweeping trails of paint frame views of a dramatic waterfall, carved rock formations, and a winding river. Hughes uses varied painting techniques, including staining and airbrush, to create ecstatic interpretations of the natural world." Accessed 4/19
Single G Mural at the Cambridge City, Indiana Post Office from waynet. Accessed August, 2015.
Texas Post office Murals from Texas Historical Commission. Also see a review of the book "The Texas Post Office Murals - Art for the People" from Texas A&M University Press. Accessed 11/16
The Toppenish Mural Society is well known for its over 70 murals. A book containing images of the murals is available through the Society. Accessed 9/21
Transcultural: A Mural by Rigo Peralta is a 2016-18 exhibit at the Allentown Art Museum, which says: "Incorporating imagery from Taino and Mayan architecture and building on the tradition of heroic figures in mural painting, Peralta's work addresses both personal and regional identity and history." Also see "Rigo Peralta's Allentown Art Museum mural captures changing cultural landscape" by Tim Higgins in The Morning Call 1/21/16. Accessed 11/16
Wall Murals in Brooklyn: A Mini Survey, from the Tiles in New York blog by Michael W. Padwee, who says "Modern wall art has become a monumental art in many ways. It has evolved from street graffiti into an art form that encompasses varied types of art, from ceramics to trompe-l'il painting. Brooklyn has them all." Accessed March, 2016.
Windsor Library Mural by American muralist Allyn Cox (1896-1982) from Windsor Public Library. Accessed August, 2015.
Yale Peabody Museum's dioramas from Yale Peabody Museum. Accessed August, 2015.
Online videos:
Artists'
Techniques Rendered Habitat Dioramas Mesmerizingly Real blog page from
American Museum of Natural History includes two videos. Accessed August,
2015.
Birding
at the Museum: Great Diorama Artists blog page from American Museum
of Natural History includes a video, plus links to similar videos. Accessed
August, 2015.
Coit Tower- California's Gold (12004)
is a 26-minute episode from Huell Howser's California's Gold television
series.from January, ,2010. It is presented
online without charge by the Chapman
University Huell Howser Archive. The Archive page containing the episode
says: "Coit Tower was built on top of Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the
bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco;
Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to
be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty
of the city which I have always loved." Huell spends the day exploring
all aspects of this San Francisco landmark, including the beautiful murals
that adorn the lobby with the descendants of one of the original artists."
Accessed January, 2015.
Georgia Museum of Art has posted numerous
videos on the Web. Examples include GMA scholars' 2012 commentary concerning
the exhibit George Beattie's Agriculture Murals in videos
from four to eight minutes in length. Accessed May, 2015.
Lompoc Mural- California's Gold (1010))
is a 25-minute episode from Huell Howser's California's Gold television
series.from January, 1999. It is presented
online without charge by the Chapman
University Huell Howser Archive. The Archive page containing the episode
says: "In a fitting tribute to an obscure piece of California history,
the town of Lompoc decided the flower flag was a wonderful image for their
annual Mural-in-a-Day event as part of the Old Town Faire. The mural was
painted by 15 talented artists and is truly beautiful. Huell met some folks
from Bodger Seed and even someone who helped plant the "flag"
in 1952." Accessed January, 2015.
Monterey
Museum of Art presents as of June 2011 "Installing Gottardo Piazzoni's
Final Murals" a 08:12 "Behind the Scenes" YouTube video
introduced by the museum's director, E. Michael Whittington, in connection
with the exhibition From Dawn to Dusk: Gottardo Piazzoni's Final Murals,
on display April 27, 2011 - December 2012. As of 2013 the Museum had uploaded
16 videos concerning artist interviews, conservation work and installations.
Accessed May, 2015.
Mural
Artists Help Beautify Washington, DC. video from Voice of America.
Accessed May, 2015.
Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles produced a video titled JR / "The
Wrinkles of Los Angeles", available online through ArtBabble.
According to ArtBabble, "This new film by theonepointeight shows street
artist JR during the making of "The Wrinkles of Los Angeles" in
Los Angeles in early 2012. This work 'links the memory of the elderly and
the architecture of the cities marked by the scars of history, their economic
development, and their socio-cultural changes. By meeting and photographing
these people to paste their portraits on the walls, JR imagines the wrinkles
on their faces as the marks of time, traces of life mixing with the history
of the city.'" This is episode 2. Accessed June, 2015.
Ron DiCianni: Painting the Resurrection
(04:24) features the artist discussing The Resurrection Mural,
12' x 40', oil on canvas, commissioned by the Museum of Biblical Art in
Dallas, TX. Video appeared on CBN.com. Accessed August, 2015.
The WGBH/Boston
Forum Network is an audio and video streaming web site dedicated to
curating and serving live and on-demand lectures, including a number of
videos on Art and Architecture. Partners include a number of museums, colleges,
universities and other cultural organizations. See listings of related videos
in this catalogue indexed by partner name. Museum
of Science, Boston partnered with the WGBH Forum Network for Extreme
Makeover: Mural Edition, (1 hour, 17 minutes) in which Gianfranco Pocobono
and Richard Wolbers discuss what happens when the conservation choices are
not clear cut and the world is watching. In 'One of the most significant
restoration projects anywhere in America', science and art merged to conserve
the John La Farge murals at Trinity Church Boston. Art and science have
continually flirted over the centuries. Both investigate. Both involve theories
and transforming information into something else. This lecture is a part
of a Museum of Science series 'When Science Meets Art', which examines the
mysterious symbiosis of science with art through the ingenuity of those
shattering the boundaries between the two fields. [January 11, 2006] Accessed
May, 2015.
DVD/VHS videos:
Indiana Murals of Thomas Hart Benton: Visions of the Past, Lessons for the Present and Treasures for the Future, The. Presents the story of the murals painted by Thomas Hart Benton (depicting the history of the state of Indiana from the early Native Americans until the 1930s) from their creation for the World's Fair of 1933 to a major restoration in the 1990s. Includes commentary by art historians and museum curators. c2001. 41 min. Video/C 9353. Available from Media Resources Center, Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Painting the Town: The Illusionistic Murals of Richard Haas Introduces the work of architectural muralist Richard Haas (b. 1936), whose mammoth murals using the "fool-the-eye" painting tradition have transformed contemporary cityscapes. The video explores the evolution of Haas' murals and uses time-lapse photography to demonstrate how they are made. Includes the Chisholm Trail mural in Fort Worth, Texas. 56-minute video. Description source: Amon Carter Museum Teacher Resource Center
Thomas Hart Benton's Missouri 28 minute / 1992 / FFH - "America's foremost folk muralist, the late Thomas Hart Benton, was at the apex of his career when he painted the Social History of Missouri mural which ambitiously depicts that state's progress from pioneer days to the Depression era. Benton's own narration from recorded interviews is used and supplemented by historian Bob Priddy."
Visiting...With Huell Howser #1505 - DIORAMA is a 28 minute DVD/VHS video in which "Huell visits the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to discover the history of its famous animal dioramas... A visit with Robert Reid who has been the resident artist for 20 years at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum and the man responsible for creating all of the beautiful dioramas. From deserts to beaches, Robert captures the natural beauty with his paint brushes. Robert works closely with Tim Bovard who is the Taxidermist and the man responsible for making all those animals look so lifelike. Together, they make a unique team." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #1005 - MOSAICS is a 28 minute 2002 video by Huell Howser Productions, which says on its Web site: "You've seen his work all across the Southland. Meet Denis O'Connor master mosaic tile artist, who has created some of the largest and most amazing mosaics in America." In this video, Denis O'Connor creates a large glass tile mosaic mural for St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island, in Newport Brach, CA. Huell follows the creation of the mural in O'Conner's two studios through to its installation in the chapel.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #738 - MURALS is a 28 minute 1999 video by Huell Howser Productions, which says on its Web site: "Huell visits a local elementary school to join a group of 5th graders on a field trip to some of LA's many murals. Along for the ride is the artists himself to discuss his art with the children. All in all it's a great LA day!"
TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format
Books sampler:
A
Guide to Chicago's Murals by Mary Lackritz Gray,
University of Chicago Press, 2001, from Google books. A review says "...
With full-color illustrations of nearly two hundred Chicago murals and accompanying
entries that describe their history-who commissioned them and why, how artists
collaborated with architects, the subjects of the murals and their contexts-A
Guide to Chicago's Murals serves both a general and a specific audience.
Divided into easy-to-read geographical sections with useful maps for walking
tours, it is the perfect companion for tourists or Chicagoans interested
in coming to know better this aspect of the city's history. Gray also provides
crucial information on lesser-known artists and on murals that have been
destroyed over the years, filling a gap in the visual record of the city's
development.... Gray also includes biographies of more than 150 artists
and a glossary of key terms, making A Guide to Chicago's Murals essential
reading for mural viewing. From post offices to libraries, fieldhouses to
banks, and private clubs to street corners, Mary Gray chronicles the amazing
works of artists who have sought to make public declarations in this most
social of art forms. (left: front cover of A Guide to Chicago's Murals)
The Texas Post Office Murals: Art for the People, by Philip Parisi, Texas A&M University Press, 2004. from Google books. A review says "... In Texas alone, artists painted ninety-seven artworks for sixty-nine post offices and federal buildings around the state. Painted by some of the best-known artists of the day, these murals sparkled with scenes of Texas history, folklore, heroes, common people, wildlife, and landscapes.... Murals were created from San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas to Big Spring, Baytown, and Hamilton. The artists included Tom Lea, Jerry Bywaters, Peter Hurd, Otis Dozier, Alexandre Hogue, and Xavier Gonzalez. The images showed people at work and featured industries specific to the region, often coupled with symbols of progress such as machinery and modern transportation. Murals depicted cowboys and stampedes, folk heroes from Sam Bass to Davy Crockett, revered Indian chief Quanah Parker, and community symbols such as Eastland's lizard mascot, Ol' Rip."
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