Conservation in Context
The Evander Childs High School Murals Project
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Controversy in Context: A Reassessment of James Michael Newell's Evolution of Western Civilization
The Evolution of Western Civilization is a fascinating case study of the disjuncture between artistic intent and audience perception. The fresco is among the most significant WPA/FAP commissions in the New York City public schools; yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. This essay will examine the meaning of the mural and consider the historical circumstances that prompted its vandalism and eventually its conservation.
When James Michael Newell began the project in 1935, the principal of Evander Childs High School requested a mural representing the history of the Bronx. Newell complied, but he also developed sketches depicting a more ambitious theme — the development of western civilization. This mural, as did other WPA murals in the New York City public schools, introduced a new approach to depicting history. In contrast to earlier Beaux-Arts murals, there is a departure from a static, snapshot view of key events and important figures. Instead, Newell portrays history as an ongoing continuum enacted through the labors of the ordinary person — history becomes synonymous with social history. With his ambitious project at Evander Childs High School, Newell joined the national discourse on the meaning of civilization. As noted historians Charles and Mary Beard stated, "The view of the world, of life and its surrounding universe, called the idea of civilization, was unmistakably a center of interest in America as the middle of the twentieth century drew near." [1]
From the start, Newell didn't want to create textbook illustrations of a conventional history showing a progression from ancient Egypt to Greece, Rome and so on. Rather he wanted to capture in a visual language the forces that have shaped western civilization: humankind's basic need of sustenance and shelter, human curiosity, the desire for communal life resulting in the formulation of a common set of laws. Newell explained it this way: "I have tried to interpret in pictorial symbols the important historical forces that determined the evolution of western civilization." In his mural, in keeping with Charles Beard's interpretation of civilization, rational science replaces superstition and technology is the key to a better way of life. In developing his historical panorama, Newell took liberties, conflating places, cultures, and time periods. He also quoted various artistic sources, particularly Giotto and Diego Rivera, and synthesized a style indebted to these masters of fresco art.
Newell provided this description of the Evolution of Civilization:
- . . . . the murals. . . show primitive man building his society, youth migrating from it to new lands, the meeting and mingling of tribes, the clashing of eastern culture and scientific knowledge with western force, building knowledge and ideas of law and democracy.
The dark ages of plague are shown next, with the church alone perpetuating knowledge. Then come the beginnings of scientific experiment and the awakening of the people to nature, the force of which destroys their bondage and leads to the great flowering of the Renaissance. The exploration which follows founded a new country to which all nations and all time have contributed, and which has developed into a varied, dynamic, and powerful civilization." [2]
Throughout the cycle, which occupies all available space (including panels above doors) framed by stained wood work, Newell repeats motifs of migrating figures, the act of writing or disseminating knowledge, and agricultural activities. The progression follows the natural architectural divisions of the walls and the composition of the panels grow in complexity particularly when Newell reaches modern America. In this extensive panel, which bridges several doors, Newell fractures the space and shows various but concurrent activities, approximating the complexity of modern, industrial life.
In an unconventional fashion, the cycle reads from right to left, perhaps because Newell wanted to devote several panels to America and could only accomplish that by ordering them in this way. He begins by reinventing Prometheus, seen in the seminal figure on the right, who seizes a bolt of lightening in one hand while cradling fire in the other. [view image] Stone Age tools above the doors frame the central panel, featuring a primitive, nameless, agricultural society, whether Babylonian, Egyptian or Meso American. Figures are harvesting wheat and corn, historically an impossible combination, which suggests the synthesis of the new and old worlds. Newell also shows the building of protective shelters and the codification of laws, represented by the figure chiseling a tablet next to another figure pointing skyward, perhaps an allusion to the Babylonian code of Hammaurabi. The repetition of figures in similar poses, their facial characteristics and generalized anatomy, and the very subject of an agrarian society, recall Rivera's depictions of Mexico's Aztec past in such murals as the History of Mexico (1929) in the National Palace in Mexico City. Out of this basic social order, civilization evolves, moving to the next phase through the migration of its youth. [view image]
The next panel combines elements from several different periods and locales. Directing the viewer's eye toward the center is the figure of Galileo pointing toward the rings of Saturn and an astronomical sphere. Also in this panel is a group of hooded warriors with spears, perhaps representing the western movement of nomadic tribes from the east; an artist chiseling a sculpture; and a figure bent over a map showing outlines of the silk trade, juxtaposed with two sheaves of wheat, a link to the first panel and a reference to the exchange of goods. A scribe refines written language, moving from the pictographs of the previous panel to a more recognizable, although generalized alphabet. The message of the panel is that the growth of science, trade, and art pushed civilization forward. [view image]
Next comes the panel partially inspired by Giotto's Lamentation. [compare Newell and Giotto] A sick man replaces the body of the dead Christ. Prostrate figures praying for his health shield him from the aggressive specter of death. [3] Other figures have already succumbed to the ravages of the plague. The panel's composition and articulation of the figures with their elongated bodies and small heads bear a striking resemblance to Giotto's figurative style. Like Giotto's figures, Newell's make dramatic gestures but they lack the psychological intensity of the proto- Renaissance master. Of course Giotto, who based his paintings on specific Biblical narratives, was an interpreter, while Newell, who created his own pictorial story, was both synthesizer and formulator. Also like Giotto and Rivera, Newell does not visually pierce the wall with deep pictorial space, but respects the wall's planar surface, a cardinal rule of mural painters. In some sections Newell uses the compositional simplicity of Giotto, while in others he applies Rivera's compacted figurative groupings. [4] [view image]
Although Newell described the next panel as the "awakening of the people to nature," suggesting a strong secular orientation, the image of the head with flowing hair against a brilliant sun evokes Christ; however the Riveraesque torch and fist give it a militant nuance. [view image] In the following panel, reason destroys superstition, portrayed as a devilish monster filled with a spring, and the printing press disseminates knowledge. This image, together with the preceding panel, suggests that exploration of the natural world, the basis of scientific inquiry, supports the destruction of superstition. [view image] Newell painted this panel last, inscribing it` with: "In the years 1937 and 1938 these murals were designed and executed by James Michael Newell...under the Federal Art Project sponsored by the United States government." [5]
Jumping several centuries and across the Atlantic, the next panel shows European explorers — Norsemen, Spaniards, the Dutch and the English — arriving in the New World, leading to the pioneer migration westward and the vanquishing of the Native American, represented as a defeated Indian brave modeled on the classical sculpture of the Dying Gaul (Pergamum, c. 240 B.C. Hellenistic period) to the lower left. [view the Dying Gaul] One explorer holds the Mosaic tablets encoded with numbers 1- 10. His fingers point to 3 and 8, suggesting the mural's completion date and/or the 8th commandment "Though Shall Not Steal," Newell's veiled commentary on the white man's arrival in the New World. [view image]
Following the discovery of the New World, The Evolution of Western Civilization culminates in a panorama of 1930s America showing three primary geographic areas: the west, represented by cattle ranchers and the railroad; the south, represented by miners and black workers picking cotton; [view image] and the northeast, represented by an electrical generator, steel workers, surgeons, and a chemist. Also depicted is the new 200-inch diameter Mount Palomar telescope, another symbol of cutting edge technology. Here Newell celebrates humankind's mastery of nature, industrial growth, and scientific progress. In keeping with themes established earlier, he also wants to illustrate American democracy and justice, symbolized as the jury in the upper right. [view image]
In Newell's discussion of the mural he emphasizes his desire to avoid obscure allegories and to invent a pictorial language based on real life activities. Many of the motifs he uses were part of a standard vocabulary of New Deal murals. These became the new symbols of the 1930s: construction workers with pneumatic drills, steel workers riveting, surgeons gathered around a patient on the operating table, the chemist, pioneers, Indians bundling sheaves of wheat and corn, and the superstition of the Middle Ages vanquished by modern science. [6]
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Newell crowns his narrative with the last two lines from Walt Whitman's "With Antecedents" from Leaves of Grass:
"And that where I am or you are this present day, there is the center of all days, all races. And there is the meaning to us of all that has ever come of races and days, or ever will come." [7] [view image]
The quote implies that history is fluid and that peoples across the globe are interrelated. It's also Newell's way of dating the mural, of recognizing that his mural is an interpretation of history in the year 1938. The quote, inscribed in an open book resting between dark-skinned hands broken free of shackles, implies freedom and knowledge for all. This element, coupled with the imagery of the mural as a whole, conveys an optimistic view of civilization's progress and America's role in its evolution.
The poem in its entirety can also be seen as a philosophical treatise for Newell's mural. Whitman makes references to "Egypt, India, Phenicia, Greece and Rome," to a range of human endeavors — "maritime ventures, laws, artisanship, wars and journeys," to the "crusader" and the "monk ." He evokes the solar system and former kingdoms. Whitman writes, "I respect Assyria, China, Teutonia, and the Hebrews, /I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demi-god. . ." Whitman speaks of the contradictory forces of "materialism" and "spiritualism" and how America is the inheritor of all those things, and at the center stands the individual.
Part of the problem, or challenge, of making this mural accessible to students today is that it is ambiguous and open to interpretation. One would think, given Newell's progressive stance and effort to be inclusive, the mural would be well received. It was in its time. It won top honors in the Architectural League's 50th Annual exhibition in 1936. It was also included in the Museum of Modern Art's New Horizons show featuring art commissioned under the Federal Art Project. The WPA made a film about it. And Mrs. Roosevelt herself and Mayor LaGuardia were invited to its unveiling on November 9, 1938.
However, by the late 1960s, the mural became a target of student unrest. Sensitized by the Civil Rights movement, the majority of African-American students then at Evander viewed the black share croppers picking cotton as a stereotype, a negative image of African-Americans reminiscent of slavery. Although Newell intended this panel to be a panorama of America, in 1968 viewers did not perceive it that way. By showing people of color and quoting Walt Whitman, Newell had wanted to be inclusive. Ironically, because of these depictions, thirty years after the mural was painted, students objected to the very images Newell had included to broaden its appeal.
Some members of the school community wanted to have the mural removed. In June of 1967, the Faculty Human Relations Committee adopted a resolution to remove the murals because "they are outdated and inaccurate, do not represent authentically the contributions of our minority groups and hamper the perpetuation of Evander's primary educational goal of inspiring, even impelling, each student to his greatest capacity." This resolution prompted the formation of three sub-committees, established the following year in May 1968: library murals, history course, English course. Objection to the murals was part of a larger wave of student and teacher dissatisfaction with the English and social studies curriculum at Evander. They wanted a more inclusive curriculum reflecting African-American contributions to history and literature and the murals became a symbol of this discontent. As part of the reevaluation of the murals, also in the Spring of 1968, 43 classes discussed the mural and a student vote was taken to decide if the murals should be removed. 80 students voted to remove the mural and 240 opted to retain it. By the following September, Principal Weiss decided that on the basis of the recommendations of the Human Relations Committee, the library mural would be changed, but it was not clear just how this would be accomplished.
In response to this decision, art department chairman Irving Seidenberg authored a petition to save Newell's fresco, writing "a work of art cannot be justifiably altered because an historical situation is inadequately described, nor should it be revised to suit the times and tastes which later prevail." Instead, Seidenberg suggested hiring a contemporary artist to conceive and create a new version of the theme and even invited noted African-American painter Jacob Lawrence to execute a new mural. Because of other obligations, Lawrence declined.
Seidenberg also embarked on a campaign to galvanize support to protect the mural and contacted major New York City museums, the Smithsonian, and even the New York Civil Liberties Union. William Agee, then a curator at the Whitney, responded to Seidenberg with this thoughtful analysis:
- The murals record one artist's conception of the development of our history, a theme to which many devoted themselves in other WPA murals now located throughout the country in public buildings. In these others — as in the Evander Childs murals — artists portrayed in certain sections some of the unjust aspects of our history. However, that the artist portrayed these aspects does not necessarily mean that he condoned them. Rather, and this is also true of other murals, he depicted injustice to show how civilization would then move to a new phase of freedom. As the title states, the theme is the evolution of man, and just as the artist shows man conquering disease in the middle ages, so too does he show the beginning of a new age where injustice has also been conquered.
If this view of history today seems to us sentimental and far from the slow and harsh realities of progress, we should not doubt the artist's sincerity of integrity. We do not erase those cruel chapters from our history by removing all traces of them from our records, whether in books or paintings. By erasing our history are we not, as Ortega y Gasset predicted long ago, doomed to repeat that history?" [8]
Shortly thereafter, Seidenberg invited the New York Civil Liberties Union to host a forum at the school. Prior to this event, in a letter of December 26, 1968, Aryeh Neier, the Union's Executive Director explained, "even while applauding the goals of those combating racial stereotypes, I believe that they serve their own purposes poorly when they seek to rewrite history rather than facing it squarely and attempting to deal with it through efforts to set forth opposing views."
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Despite extensive discussion about the murals and an earnest desire to understand the artist's intent, no resolution was reached and no visible action was taken. Apparently, by May 1969 increasing frustration led to the vandalism of the figures picking cotton. Angry students scratched out the faces and spray painted the image while the powerless school administration watched. Soon after, the school erected a curtain over the offending defaced segment. In a recent interview, Seidenberg reflected, "If anybody is to learn from this thing I think they have to know the real root problem. Otherwise no one will be educated and it will just be hidden behind that curtain." [view image]
The recent project, "Conservation in Context," enacted what Seidenberg had hoped to achieve in 1968. A guest artist, Manny Vega, engaged students in the creation of a new mural to address the omissions and distortions they perceived in Newell's fresco. Another group of students studied the New Deal period, reexamined the mural and participated in the creation of a web site about it. Lastly, the conserved mural, complete with the remnant of the curtain rod installed to conceal it, reminds us that history, like civilization, is constantly evolving.
Michele Cohen, Program Director
Public Art for Public Schools
End Notes
1 Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard, The American Spirit: A Study of the Idea of Civilization in the United States. (New York: Collier Books, 1942), 21.
2 James Michael Newell, "The Evolution of Western Civilization," in Francis V. O'Connor, Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930s by Artists and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Project (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1973), 62.
3 Ernest Fiene employs a similar figure to portray Greed in his 1938 mural entitled History of the Needlecraft Industry at High School of Fashion Industries, Manhattan.
4 Berman notes that the Mexican influence on Newell can be seen "in the large, stylized Indian figures working in the fields, the superstitious scene, and the large hands with broken chains . . ." Greta Berman, The Lost Years: Mural Painting in New York City Under the WPA Federal Art Project, 1935-1943 (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1978), 132.
5 In a photo of the mural in an Evander Yearbook for 1937, this is the only wall that is blank.
6 See Berman, who notes that similar subjects are depicted in murals by Laning, Refregier, Guston, Brooks, Mose, Crimi, Palmer, Alston, and Penney. Berman, The Lost Years, 132.
7 Quoted here from Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 2000; a Signet Classic reprint of the 1892 edition), 205-207.
8 William C. Agee to Irving Seidenberg, 9 October 1968, Art Commission of the City of New York, Evander Childs High School collateral file, and personal papers of Irving Seidenberg.
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