Since the birth of civilization, the human race has felt compelled to leave its mark, to leave behind something physical and tangible, to leave indisputable evidence that someone was once there. One way to gain attention-if not immortality-was to paint images on walls or ceilings.
Murals are an ancient form of expression, including everything from the paleolithic rock creations of France and Spain to the politically charged frescoes of revolutionary Mexico to the contemporary street art of the great American cities.
Whatever the era or the place, creating murals is a public act, for murals, by their nature, belong to the community. As street art, they reflect the dreams, needs and desires of a people or, quite often, of a particular ethnic group.
“There is an urge for people to proclaim themselves, to name themselves, in a positive way,” says Jon Pounds, director of the Chicago Public Art Group, a not-for-profit organization that has been creating murals for 22 years (see accompanying story). The mural, Pounds says, serves as a symbol of community identification.
Murals have many functions: to warn against the evil of drugs and crime, to celebrate local heroes or to exhibit a public pride in one’s community. A mural may have specific themes (Mexican independence or neighborhood history) or express more general themes (love, hope and peace or racial harmony).
“The beginning of the modern mural movement began with the “Wall of Respect,” says Pounds.
William Walker’s “Wall of Respect” was completed in the winter of 1967 at 43rd and Langley on the South Side with the support of the community. It not only inspired the growing mural movement but also brought black consciousness to a greater public awareness.
Murals are scattered throughout the city but are especially prevalent in such neighborhoods as South Shore, Hyde Park, the West Side, Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Pilsen.
Pilsen, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood on the South Side, reflects the rich tradition of its Mexican heritage from the hand-painted signs in store windows to the numerous murals-many with a political edge-that grace its walls and help add color to its buildings. Pilsen draws much of its artistic inspiration from the Mexican mural movement of this century and, in particular, from the work of such Mexican muralists as David Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco and, especially, Diego Rivera.
Rivera, who died in Mexico City in 1957, believed in the creation of a new nationalistic art based on political themes and depicting events from Mexican history. He broke from artistic tradition by producing work created not for the museum but for the street. His influence is far ranging and can be seen in the work of local Hispanic artists as well as in the working-class portraits of the Scottish painter Ken Currie.
A list of some important Chicago muralists-both veterans and newcomers-must include William Walker, John Pitman Weber, Nina Smoot-Cain, Cynthia Weiss, Caryl Yasko, Marcelo Zwierzynski, Mitchell Caton, Calvin Jones, Roberto Valadez, Olivia Gude, Astrid Fuller, Marcos Raya, Ray Patlan, Hector Duarte, Marcus Akinlana and Aurelio Diaz, to name just a few.
Here is a select guide to some of the best indoor and outdoor murals and mosaics in the city and suburbs.
INDOOR
Three years ago, the Remains Theater commissioned local artist Peter Hurley to create a work of art for the opening of its new home at 1800 N. Clybourn Ave. Hurley’s stunning and untitled Goyaesque mural is prominently displayed above the bar in the theater’s lobby.
“We wanted to have something that addressed the broader term of art in some way, something that was timeless,” says Chris Petersen of the Remains Theater.
Its image of the frazzled everyman, surrounded by books and hounded by authoritarian figures who want to take his artistic freedom away, both personifies the theater’s maverick stance and, at the same time, comments eloquently about the city’s ambiguous and sometimes confrontational attitude toward art and the artist.
With more than 50 works of art on almost every floor, the Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State St.) is an artist’s-and an art lover’s-dream. It includes, for example, works by such important Chicago artists as Ed Paschke, Paul Sierra and Hollis Sigler.
Among the library’s highlights: the mosaic by Jacob Lawrence in the north niche of the main lobby. Entitled “Events in the Life of Harold Washington,” the work attempts to find an artistic equivalent of one man’s life-in this case, someone who was bigger than life and who valued and understood the significance of the written and spoken word.
On the ninth floor is the library’s largest and arguably most impressive collection of artwork. In the foyer of the Special Collections division at the south end of the Winter Garden is a mural by six Chicago artists working in collaboration. Entitled “Communidad, Si: It Takes a Vision,” it addresses many themes important to both the city and the nation, such as urban renewal, neighborhood power and cultural and ethnic diversity. The artists represented include some of the best muralists-both up-and-coming artists and seasoned veterans-working in the city today: Akinlana, Smoot-Cain, Duarte, Gude, Valadez and Weber.
Among his many accomplishments, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt hired artists to create public works of art through his Works Progress Administration (WPA) program. Some of the best of their work was commissioned for U.S. post offices, such as the mural on display at the post office at Irving Park Road and Southport Avenue.
The mural, completed in 1937, recalls the images of labor-from factory workers to Union Stockyard employees. In one image, a man-a foreman perhaps-stands with goggles resting on his forehead while another man, holding a ladle of molten liquid, pours the fiery substance into a rectangular container. The Chicago skyline looms in the distance with its gleaming skyscrapers and hope for the future, looking like an industrial Emerald City. Meanwhile, a high-speed train pulls away from the city center to some unknown destination. In the foreground, the cool waters of Lake Michigan separate the images of old Chicago (billowing smoke emerging from a city on fire and Ft. Dearborn on a bluff) from the vision of the modern, streamlined metropolis.
Other colorful indoor murals include the tasteful portraits of the Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini that adorn the walls of Verdi and Puccini Opera Cafe (1458 Sherman Ave., Evanston) and the fanciful homages to Swedish royalty and history that add charm and just the right touch of authentic Scandinavian atmosphere to Ann Sather’s restaurants (929 W. Belmont Ave. and 5207 N. Clark St.)
OUTDOOR
Under the Ravenswood “L” at the corner of Lincoln and Leland Avenues, a huge, 3,000-square-foot mural entitled “Lincoln Square Mural” celebrates German culture. The painting was designed and executed within two months in the summer of 1991 by Lothar Sanchez-Speer, assisted by a team of eight students from Amundsen, Senn and Roberto Clemente high schools. The subject matter is an imaginary German landscape but it also features some actual German landmarks, such as Cologne Cathedral, the Alps and the Rhine. According to the plaque, it is the largest outdoor mural of its kind in the country.
“Herstory: A Women’s History Mural” by Anna Marie Coveny is at the intersection of Addison Street and Lincoln Avenue under the railroad tracks. It commemorates the achievements of working women in the United States, from African-American women picking cotton to female factory workers. It’s a bit worse for wear, but the message still rings clear.
At the corner of Kimball and Milwaukee Avenues is a memorial by Jose Berrios to the bravery and courage of three Chicago firefighters who died fighting a blaze in the Logan Square neighborhood. In a poignant touch, Berrios equips the firefighters with angels’ wings.
LaSalle Towers, a 1920s apartment building at the corner of Division and State Streets, has been transformed by New York artist Richard Haas into one of the city’s best examples of a trompe l’oeil mural. This magical trompe l’oeil honors the careers of four of Chicago’s greatest architects: Daniel H. Burnham, Louis Sullivan, John Wellborn Root and Frank Lloyd Wright. Trompe l’oeil, which means to “fool the eye,” literally tricks the eye into thinking that something is there when it isn’t.
“Where We Come From, Where We Are Going,” by Olivia Gude, at 56th Street and Lake Park Avenue on the South Side, is an oral history of the community presented in mural form, based on interviews with passersby who tell the story of their lives.
Nearby, at the northeast corner of 57th Street and Lake Park under the IC railroad tracks, is “Justice Speaks,” by William Walker. Jon Pounds calls the mural, which portrays the murder trial and appeal of Delbert Tibbs, “a beautiful and politically important piece.”
Also at 57th and Lake Park is Astrid Fuller’s “The Spirit of Hyde Park.” Fuller is a former social worker who studied at McGill University in Montreal and the University of Stockholm in Sweden before receiving her master’s degree at the University of Chicago. In this, one of her best-known pieces, she celebrates the ethnic and cultural diversity of Hyde Park.
Also on the South Side is “I Welcome Myself to a New Place Where . . .” at 113th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, by Marcus Akinlana, Olivia Gude and Jon Pounds. Otherwise known as the Roseland Pullman mural, this work is reportedly the largest community-based mural in the city. It was completed with the assistance of more than 100 residents from the two neighborhoods.
At the northeast corner of Superior and Oakley Streets in Ukrainian Village stands Saints Volodymyr and Olha Church, a breathtaking structure. Over the church’s main entrance is a huge mosaic designed by the team of Hordynsky, Makarenko and Baransky that depicts the conversion of the Ukrainian people to Christianity in 988 A.D.
Other important outdoor murals include:
– “Arbol de Vida (Tree of Life)” by John Pitman Weber and Catherine Cajandig; 2125 W. North Ave. A cement relief and painted panel mural located on the wall of the Center for Neighborhood Technology.
– Casa Aztlan; 18th Street and Racine Avenue. A busy community center in the heart of the Pilsen neighborhood. Its exterior and interior walls are decorated with the works of such Chicago muralists as Marcos Raya, Ray Patlan and Aurelio Diaz.
– “TILT (Together Protect the Community)” by John Pitman Weber; Fullerton and Washtenaw Avenues. Co-sponsored by Chicago Public Art Group and Youth Services Project, this mural is three years short of its 20th birthday and, although in need of a touchup, still retains considerable power. Its message-that the community can solve its own problems by working together-is as relevant today as it was then.
– “For a New World” by John Weber and Oscar Martinez with team; 925 W. Diversey Ave. This colorful mural on the wall of Holy Covenant Church is one of the more hopeful murals in town.
