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Mural

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Salle des illustres, ceiling painting, by Jean André Rixens. Le Capitole, Toulouse, France.

A mural is a painting on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface. Murals of sorts date to prehistoric times such as the paintings on the Caves of Lascaux in southern France, but the term became famous with the Mexican muralista art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many techniques. The best-known is probably "fresco", which uses water soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten when dried. Murals today may be painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water based media. The styles can vary from abstract to Trompe L'Oeil (a French term for fool or trick the eye).


Significance of murals

File:ABC Hospital Mural VRDV.jpg
Mural at the American British Cowdray Hospital in México D.F. by Veronica Ruiz de Velasco in 1989.

Murals are significant in that they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants. For artists, their work gets a wide audience that otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. For the city, it gets beautified by a work of art. Murals exist where people live and work and affect their daily lives.

Murals are a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law or have been commissioned by local bars and coffeeshops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues.

World famous are the murals in Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry and Los Angeles [1] which have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by totalitarian regimes as a tool of mass-control and propaganda. However despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.

Unique Murals

Unique Murals are to be found around the world. An example of such a mural is to be found covering a wall in an old building, once a prison, at the top of a cliff in a place known locally as Bardiyah, in Libya. Signed by the artist on April 1942, weeks before the his death on the first day of the First Battle of El Alamein. It is known as the Bardia Mural, and was created by Private John Frederick Brill[1].

The Bardia Mural, photographed in the sixties, prior to its damage by defacement and the ravages of time.

Murals and politics

Main article: Northern Irish murals
File:Lesymuralccsf.JPG
Two women kissing at a CCSF mural, in San Francisco California

Many murals serve as a public service announcement of a special interest, notably for political topics such as sex, sexual orientation, religion and intolerance.

File:Derry mural 3.jpg
A republican mural by the Bogside Artists in Derry's Bogside, depicting Bernadette Devlin McAliskey.

Northern Ireland contains arguably the most famous political murals. Almost 2,000 murals have been documented in Northern Ireland since the 1970s. Although the murals more often than not represent violence or intolerance, they are renowned for their professional nature and the notable level of skill of the artists creating them.

File:World Wall in Mexico City.jpg The World Wall:A Vision of the Future Without Fear traveled to Mexico City and is on Exhibition in the Museo de la Cuidad until October 31, 2006. The series of eight panels were painted in the U.S, Finland, Russia, Palestine, Israel, and Mexico. Organized by Judy Baca muralist and artistic director of The Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice California, artist around the world have been asked to envision the moment of change in their country and a future without fear. Each artist and their teams have responded with these works produced over a ten year period. Four works have been led by Judy Baca on different aspects of the transformation of a society to peace. Works are in progress in Canada, and Cuba with others planned for Africa, Ireland and other countries. the work is currently on display in Mexico City with the collaborative work of two women artists from Mexico City.

See also

References

  1. ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "Last Resting Place". Retrieved 29 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
A mural in Havana, Cuba
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Murals.

Further reading

  • Oona Woods (1995). Seeing is Believing? Murals in Derry. Guildhall: Printing Press. ISBN 0-946451-31-1.
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