FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1940
.
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Class -01 1932 Will, Present Poors Mural To
_Col,l! „ :1" , ?, Tomorrow
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In the center of the mural the
figure of Abraham Lincoln com
panions a young student who
holds an Unplanted tree, symbol
izing the creation and future
promise of the new land-grant
college. The first Old Main build
ing is being constructed behind
these figures, while light breaks
"Land-Grant Mural Only
A Beginning"--Dickson
Resident Artist
Plan Abandoned
Only the beginning of a huge
artistic dream in a scheme of
' frescos around the second floor
balcony of Old Main was inaugur
ated when Henry Varnum Poor
completed the Land Grant Mural
on the central staircase wall of the
building, Harold E. Dickson, asso
ciate professor of Fine Arts,'has
announced.
When the tentative series, of
murals becomes a reality, a great
composite picture of the develop
ment of the College from its be
ginning to the present time would
include panels representing the
various schools on the campus and
the 'major College contemporary
activities.
These proposed frescos could be
done in many ways Mr. ~Dickson
asserted, but Mr. Poor suggested a
continuity of scenes around Old
•arid• —oom
mented that it would be particu
larly interesting to paint on walls
lighted by natural light; instead of
the artificial lighting to be used
for the Land Grant Mural.
pon completion of Poor's work
recently, the College was urged to
employ him as artist in residence
for three years, but plans were
=
changed, due to •_thp -lack 7neces-
sary funds amounting to $.1.5,(:)00.
§ources for availability of funds
include:. the Carnegie Corporation,.
th - 41 Buhl Founda . tion of-Pittsburgh,
alumni funds, and class gift money.
The latter holds forth the most
hope.
liowhere in the country is there
a - keno project like that proposed.
Suh a gift .would be peculiarly
appropriate as a tribute to the Col
l*, Mr. Dickson assured. •
iCelillinit Make Frani
Location of the mural in the
lobby of •Old Main -has subjected
it to- the effects of the decorative
colinnns in front of the stairs. The
pars are an integral part of• the
picture's organization.
The columns provide framing
foit the . large central theme and
seine to divide the fresco into its
..cOniponeßt parts • for separate
viewing. 's The artist has used the
position 4f the shafts to st.ltbitizo
the`:prop4rtional - sizes of his fig-
through the clouds overhead.
Richly autoumn-toned f arm
lands occupy the deep background
spaces to the left of Old Main; in
dustrial legions can be seen to the
right of the high blue mountain
ranges. In the foreground are set
groups of figures typifying the
primary educational objectives of
Artist At Work
Thousands of students, visitors,
and residents of State College wit
nessed the actual painting of the
fresco in the seven weeks time it
took Henry Yarnum Poor to com
plete his mural masterpiece. Here
the artist is Shown supervising the
application of wet plaster.
Artist Used
Student Models
Mary Elizabeth Hatton '4O, Don
C. West '42, Harold . J. Raab '42,
John R. Snyder '4O, and Thomas
Slutter will be -scrutinized, criti
cized, admired, and respected by
many thousands of people in dec
ides to come. These students—at
least their likenesses—are pre
served for posterity. in the. Old
Main Mural.
Miss Hatton served as a model
for the woman student. in the sem
inar group directly to the right of
the figure of Lincoln. Don West
was the subject for the figure with
the trowl in the engineering group
on the right. The other students
compose the agricultural group
left of the center.
In additiorito the students, Har
old E. Dickson, •'associate professor
of fine arts, and.Johit It i ThotapSop
.
Ol`The class Of 1862 also -served as
THE .DAILY COLLEGIAN
Nr..t'Zr'''.,%; l, `"
a land-grant college To the ex
treme left in the fresco is a rural
nome scene in which a student is
taking leave of his parents for col
lege. Below Old Main and near
the central figures are agriculture
students examining an experi
mental plot of seedlings, while
fellow stulents Work in the fields
Fresco Attracts
Widespread Prais
Recognizing the rich subject
matter and the degree of artistic
talent of the Land Grant Mural
recently completed by Henry Var
num Poor, art magazines and
newspape:s have lauded the fres
co as the first work of its kind
painted in an American college.
A detailed description of - the
mural is featured in the August
issue of the Magazine of Art.
Herein Forbes Watson, - . associate
editor, says: "Out of purely Amer
ican subject matter, of a particu
larly significant kind, Poor has
designed a fersco which is cer
tainly one of the greatest works of
art produced in this country."
In the September issue of the
Art Digest the following was said
of Poor and the mural: "Poor, on
his part, gave his best to produce
a mural aesthetically worthy of
the permance of its medium."
Featured as a frontispiece in the
Art News, September number, a
description of the mural accom
panies a composite study and a de
tailed study.
Full page spreads of the mural
were featured in a composite and
detailed studies in the Sunday edi
tions of the Pittsburgh Press and
the Philadelphia Inquirer reecntly.
Art Conscious U. S. Colleges
Secure Official Campus Artists
Carnegie Foundation
Supports Enterprise
Colleges and universities
Throughout the. United States are
becoming more_art-conscious with
many new artists in residence be
ing appointed this year. These men
are in some places employed , as
teachers and in other colleges
serve as demonstrators and campus
artists.
Many of the new college-going
artists are on the payroll of their
institutions while others are spon
sored by the Carnegie. Foundation.
The Foundation, which recently
turned down a request by Penn
State for a commission for Henry
Varnum Poor, has sent John Held
Jr., illustrator, to the University
of Georgia. Through the s same
I'llqa4sl l ZNie-140:049;PrPgrO:
sive muralist, is now'atZalamazoo
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behind them.
On .the other sine of Lincoln a
group gathered about a table is
being aught by Dr. David B. Pugh,
first president of the College. Sev r
eral students clad in Civil War un
iforms and a girl suggest military
training and coeducation. Behind
this group can be seen factories,
Brief Ceremony To Mark
Acceptance By Hetzel
Special Lighting
Sought For Exercises
Ideal Student
Above is pictured the artist's
conception of the , ideal student ; one
of the two principle figures which
form the theme center of the
mural. The youth holds a young
fruit tree to be planted, suggesting
the promise of future growth and
rich return.
Philipp has established residence
at the University of Illinois.
,Spaniard Luis Quintanilla at the
niversity of Kansas City will start
the' irst university school of fresco
.painting in the United States.
Fresco is the same medium which
was used by Poor in painting the
Old Main mural.
Muial Leaflets Available
Miliaeographed leaflets describ
ing the `Land-Grant Mural in de
tail are available for students, vis
itors, .and all other interested per
sons at the Student Union desk in
the first floor lobby of Old Main.
Murals now completed in Amer
ican colleges' include one in the
Dartmouth Taibrary, a Squill , mural
Atikl4,rysird,443 4 iflihe'olfotli of art
al - Yale by Eugene Savage, an Am-
PAGE FIVE
MEI
oil fields, a sawmill, and an
furnace. At the base of the fresco
a young mineralogist is examining
a rock specimen against an out
crop of coal. Engineers in a group
at the right are checking plans for
a stone-arched bridge which is un
der construction nearby.
Official presentation of the Penri
State Mural, the gift of the class
of 1932, will be made tomorrow at
8 p.m. in the first floor lobby of
Old Main as a part of the Alumni
Day program.
Prof. J. Burn Helme, architec
tural department, will present the
speakers for the ceremony. Actual
presentation of the mural will be
made by H. Audrey Myers, senior
class president of the donor class
of 1932. Acceptance of the mural
will be made by President Ralph
D. Hetzel on behalf of the college.
The ceremony will be brief en
ough to permit those interested in
attending the Cider Feed at 8:30
in the Armory to attend both func
tions.
No Novice, Poor Painted
Way. Back In High School
Henry Varnum Poor, now recog
nized as the outstanding mural
painter in America, was born in
Chapman, Kansas in 1888, the son
of a wealthy banker. •
YoUng Poor got his first inspir-,
ation for painting in high school
and retained that enthusiasm
throughout his college career at
Stanford University.
After his graduation .he studied
abroad with Walter Sickert, fam
ous English painter, and at Julian's
world renowned art school in Paris
until he was called to the colors in
1917 as regimental artist.
Upon his return to America al
the end of hostilities, Poor planned
and built his artistic home in Nevi'
York state, using red limestone and
timber and including a pottery
workshop at one end where lie
began to, turn out unsurpassable
pottery.
After making a small
,fortune
through his ceramic work, which
included designing a foUntain for
Helen Hayes, the famous stage
star, Poor turned his genius tow
ard the field of mural painting.
In 1937 he completed 12 panels
in fresco for the Justice Depart
ment in Washington following this
up with a similar work for the
Department of the Interior.
Sketches for the Penn State •
mural were begun by Mr. Poor in • ,
August, J 939, Band the
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