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01 EDMUND LEWANDOWSKI
Edmund Lewandowski, American, 1914-1998,
Industrialization of Flint, venetian glass and
cement, 1958. Gift of the Artist, B1.1
MURALS
When the Flint Institute of Arts built its present building in the 1950’s, artist
Edmund Lewandowski was asked to design two glass mosaic murals for the
new building. The Spirit of Cultural Development measures 123 x 161
inches and the Industrialization of Flint measures 117 x 216 inches.
ARTreach is funded by a grant
from the Ruth Mott Foundation
In the 1950’s, the automobile industry contributed to the rapid growth of
the city of Flint. Lewandowski wanted his murals to suggest the energy of
the expanding city. He visited factories and watched people working on
the assembly line. He noticed how roads and highways crisscrossed the city. He used
horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines to suggest the automobile industry and the
city of Flint in the murals.
Over 500 shades of red, blue, black, white and gray glass cubes were used to make
the murals. The glass pieces, or mosaics, were made in Murano, Italy, a city known for
its beautiful glass.
Workers lift the wall holding
one of the murals.
The two murals are composed of 300 sections (each between 10 and 15 inches
square) of ½-inch mosaics. Lewandowski first made a painting of the composition in
his studio. Then, mosaic artists from Venice, working under Lewandowski’s direction,
made the murals in New York City. In Flint, each of the sections was imbedded into
a surface of wet mortar spread on the museum wall. The two murals cover a total of
313 square feet, with approximately 270,000 cubes of glass. The small, hand cut cubes
were skillfully combined to create the composition.
The Lewandowski murals were hidden beneath the sheet rock of a building wall
during a renovation in the early 1990’s. At the beginning of the 2005 renovation
project, the murals were uncovered.
The complex tasks of relocating and restoring the mosaic murals involved a variety of
process steps and experts. Sorensen Gross Contractors of Flint moved the mural walls,
and art conservator Kenneth Katz of Detroit, Michigan, and his assistants performed
final surface restoration. The murals can now be seen along the south entrance
hallway of the Flint Institute of Arts. This important project was generously funded by
a grant from the Ruth Mott Foundation of Flint, Michigan.
An art conservator cleans and
repairs one of the murals.
Edmund Lewandowski
Edmund Lewandowski (1914-1998) was an artist for over 60 years. He worked as an
illustrator, artist, educator, and art administrator and was one of Wisconsin’s most
important modern artists.
Lewandowski played a major role in the development of the American Precisionist
Movement. He painted industrial and nautical subjects for many years. While his
early work showed heroic laborers in the workplace, from the mid-1940’s on, his
art focused on showing the machinations of industry and technology with epic
grandeur. He reduced his subject matter to its most basic, flat and geometrical shapes
and painted them in the clear, precise, and sharply defined manner characteristic of
Precisionist paintings.
Hubert Massey, American, b. 1958, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water (detail), fresco, 2006. Flint Institute of Arts commission with funds from
the Ruth Mott Foundation, 2006.60
Earth, Wind, Fire and Water
Hubert Massey painted Earth, Wind, Fire and Water in fresco, a centuries old
technique of painting on wet plaster. The technique has been used since ancient
Greek and Roman times. In the 16th century, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel in fresco. More recently and closer to home, Diego Rivera used
the technique for the Detroit Industry murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Hubert Massey became fascinated with fresco in the 1980’s while an art student at
Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. He also studied the technique
with two of Diego Rivera’s apprentices.
The subject of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, like the fresco medium, has a long
history. According to ancient Greek philosophy, the four elements – earth, wind,
fire and water – form all things in our world. As a subject for art, the four elements
are part of a tradition of representation that reflects an interest in the visible world.
With the rise of Humanism in 14th century Europe came the rise of the educated
middle class. Many members of the middle class were art consumers who pursued
learning as a leisure time activity. They enjoyed pictures that made reference to the
four elements as a way of understanding the hidden forces of nature and nature’s
artistry. Jan van Kessel’s painting Air, on view in the Summerfield European Gallery,
is a good example of this type of painting (see illustration on the next page).
The Hubert Massey mural is the artist’s interpretation of the four elements. Massey
includes Mother Earth, holding the plant of life in one hand and planet Earth in the
other. Her hair, carried to the right by the wind, flows into clouds in the sky. An artist’s
hands grip an axle, tilting a crucible so the molten metal inside flows into a mold
beneath it. Steam rises from the mold and travels over lily pads floating in water. The
drops of water on the lily pads and the water beneath them reflect the sky above.
Jan van Kessel, Flemish, 16261679, Air, oil on copper, c. 1647.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William L.
Richards through the Viola E. Bray
Charitable Trust Fund, 1965.33
“The message,” Massey explains, “is that Man has the responsibility of maintaining the
balance of the elements. The crucible and hands at work symbolize the hard work and
strength of the community, while the drops of water on the lily pads signify the DNA
of life.… We are all connected as human beings.”
Hubert Massey
Hubert Massey attended Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and
spent a semester abroad, studying art at the University of London’s Slade School of
Fine Art. After graduating from GVSU, Massey perfected his craft by working as a sign
and billboard painter, producing large-scale paintings on a daily basis. It would be
twelve years before he would receive his first major art commission, a 625 square foot
oil mural for the lobby of the Atheneum Hotel in Detroit. Numerous commissions
Hubert Massey working on Earth, followed, including Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, the first major fresco mural in
Michigan since the 1930’s when Diego Rivera painted his murals at the Detroit
Wind, Fire and Water in his
Detroit studio
Institute of Arts.
Massey creates large-scale art that is integral to the architectural space it occupies.
His work is driven by a desire to create art that is available and connected to the
community. As the artist explains, “Art brings communities together and creates a
wonderful environment.”
I remember when I was a boy, a good deal of time was spent
listening to shoptalk … all of my relatives were engaged in the
industry … so the depiction of industrial power and technology and efficiency has always had a great attraction for me.
— Edmund Lewandowski
01
FLINT INSTITUTE OF ARTS
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
1120 E. Kearsley St., Flint, MI 48503
810.237.7314 fax 810.237.7327
web.mac.com/flintartsed