Confessions of a depression muralist / Frank W. Long.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Long, Frank W.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Long, Frank W.

Painters--United States--Biography.

Painters.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xi, 179 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, [1997]

Summary:

For more than fifty years, Frank W. Long's enchanting murals have graced the walls of post offices and other public buildings throughout the South and Midwest. All of them remain on display. In Confessions of a Depression Muralist, Long interweaves history and anecdote to offer a captivating and colorful memoir of his life as a government artist. "It was almost by accident that I became a painter of murals", writes Long. As he struggled to support his easel painting by working as a busboy and a wedding-cake designer, a fortuitous chain of events led to his commission to paint a pair of elaborate murals for a wealthy architect's new home. Although the circus and jungle scenes he created were later featured in American Architect, these murals might have been Long's last had a new government program not offered him an opportunity he could not refuse. In 1932 two influential individuals convinced the U.S. government to establish the Section of Fine Arts under the Department of Treasury. By setting aside a portion of the appropriation for each new government building to pay for custom murals, the Section hoped to develop the first truly American school of painting. From the bohemian atmosphere of Chicago's Towertown to the close-knit Appalachian community of Berea, Kentucky, where Long created his most popular murals, Confessions of a Depression Muralist follows the artist's fascinating career. Filled with Long's recollections of the colorful characters he met along the way, the book illuminates as well the process of mural painting and the artistic challenges of government-sponsored art.

Contents:

Prologue 1

1. A Portrait Commission Saves the Day 6

2. I Receive My First Mural Commission 14

3. I Continue Painting and Discover Berea 25

4. Back to Chicago, for a While 48

5. Life in Berea 66

6. Hunting and Other Diversions 79

7. Of Easel Paintings and Murals 92

8. A Turkey Shoot with Jessie Kinnard 107

9. Family Matters 117

10. Three Kentuckians See the West for the First Time 129

11. A Mural for Morehead, Kentucky 139

12. A Competition is Held for a Mural in Berea 150

13. I Make My Final Escape from Mural Painting 163

Afterword / Harriet W. Fowler 177.

ISBN:

0826209947

OCLC:

36083639