dieser beitrag wurde verfasst in: englisch (eng/en)
künstler: James H. Daugherty
titel: New England Tradition. American Rhythm. Forever Panting. Forever Young / School Activities / Sports Frenzy. Knowledge the Solution of the Problem. Comedy and Tragedy. High School Graduates
jahr: 1934
+: Public Works of Art funded mural cycle. Originally 7 parts. Oil on canvas
The cycle is among Daugherty's most complex works, encompassing over two hundred figures, nearly all of which were the frequently-used Depression-Era symbols: the family, the pioneer, the common man, the farmer, and the worker. Daugherty divided the room into two topical sections, one a comment on present-day America, portraying scenes of daily life, and the other a history lesson featuring New England's exceptional heroes and most portentous events, as well as the tradition of American music. Daugherty reintroduced the idea of a freize to circle the room with an inscription from the Old Testament, using the same quotes from Proverbs 3: 13-1 7 that he had employed in Happy is the Man (Fig. 22, cat. no. 7), the study for Rockefeller Center.
Daugherty created the cycle with a Whitmanesque sensibility. Its scenes of education and future technology, family and community, selfhood and society, are bound together to present a coherent appeal to rejuvenate the American spirit. By encompassing nearly every facet of contemporary social and political life and fusing them to the historical foundation of democracy, Daugherty's murals correspond to many of the ideas of the Progressive Movement, chiefly its crusade to create a new society that integrated the individual within the community. [105] By portraying the school's actual teachers and students in the mural, School Activities, Daugherty produced a documentary about real people during the Depression. He conceived American Rhythm (Fig. 32, cat. no. 11 and Fig. 33; also see cat. nos. 10 and 12) as appropriate subject matter for the auditorium, to convey the idea of unity among the various races of American people, and Sports Frenzy to celebrate the notion of teamwork.
Connecticut's PWAP administrators considered the Stamford mural cycle as among its most successful projects. The Report of Work Relief under the Emergency Relief Commission of Connecticut 1934-35 referred to it as "outstanding," while a later report of 1939 considered the project "one of the best mural jobs in the U.S. done under a relief program." Survey Graphic, a progressive journal concerned with social and economical issues, published two illustrated articles on the cycle. [106] Virginia Drew believed the murals "will go down through the years ahead of us as among Stamford's most valued Possessions." [107]
The murals were removed from the walls in 1970 and later restored by Hiram Hoelzer. Comedy and Tragedy has been sold to a private collector. High School Graduates (Fig. 34) is missing and presumed destroyed. (Fig. 34) Hoelzer, at the time of publication, owns the remaining murals, although some have sections missing.
(from: Lawton, Heroic America)
Seven murals were painted by Daugherty as part of a New Deal Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and graced the walls of the school’s music auditorium for 36 years before being ripped from the walls during a school renovation in 1970. A student recovered six of the original seven murals from a dumpster. One was lost. They later found their way into the hands of an art restorer, who sold two of them to prominent collectors in California. The remaining four murals became the property of the City of Stamford after funds were raised to buy them back from the art restorer. Today, one is mounted in the library of the University of Connecticut in Stamford and another is at the Ferguson Library. A third remains in storage until funding is secured to restore it. «Sports» is the smallest of the seven murals and depicts student athletes. SHS students and staff served as models for Daugherty.
(from: Stamford High, Press Release, Nov. 6th, 2009)