American Dioramas, American Murals and American Muralists

American Dioramas, American Murals and American Muralists

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(above: Carlos Lopez, Bounty, 1940, Treasury Department Section of Painting and Sculpture. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Albert Henry Krehbiel (1873-1945), American Impressionist Painter and Muralist: Murals Exhibit from Krehbiel Corporation. Accessed August, 2015.

A New House for Violet Oakley's House of Wisdom is a 2023 exhibit at the Woodmere Art Museum which says: "This mural series, The Building of the House of Wisdom, was among the monumental commissions of Oakley's career. The artist found her theme in Proverbs 9:1: "Wisdom hath buildeth her house." Her grand allegory demonstrates how wisdom develops within the structure of the family through an embrace of literature, the visual and performing arts, modern science, ancient mythology, and the history of civilization." Accessed 7/23

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." 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.

Daniel Johnston Mural is a 2021 exhibit at the The Contemporary Austin which says: "Commissioned as part of the artist's posthumous retrospective, Daniel Johnston: I Live My Broken Dreams, this mural features images and details taken directly from Johnston's artwork. Alongside good-hearted monsters, winged eyeballs, and ducks, we see some of Johnston's most prominent characters: the Beast, a multi-headed creature referencing the Book of Revelation; Jeremiah the Innocent, a symbol of pure innocence anchoring his landmark "Hi, How Are You," 1993, mural; Vile Corrupt, Jeremiah's evil, multi-eyeballed nemesis; and Casper, the ghost of Jeremiah and symbol of spiritual redemption." Accessed 6/22

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 5/20

Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers is a 2021 exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art which says: "This large-scale mural, which measures ten feet high and nearly forty feet wide altogether, comes to the Chrysler on loan from Art Bridges. The mural's seven panels are paired with works from the Chrysler's rich photography and decorative arts holdings that illuminate Steichen's photographic career." Accessed 4/23

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." 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.

(above: Tile mural above the entry doors to the Casino. Catalina Island, CA. photo 2007 by John Hazeltine)

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