Santiago Martinez Delgado: 1906-1954
Delgado was a student in Chicago of Ruth VanSickle Ford, who was also one of the teachers of Walt Disney. As I understand, through his connection with Ford, Martinez was commissioned to do (at least one) mural for the Century of Progress 1933-1934 in Chicago. His Mural "Columbia Evolution" as seen here is probably one of his most famous works for which he was awarded the Logan Medal for the Arts in 1933.
This piece has so much texture and area of great rhythm. The horses alone are stunningly beautiful and so dynamic and elegant, that they could stand as a great piece even if separated from the rest of the work. The background with the trees/birds/wavy lines/chains is even more compelling than the sensual dynamic figures that populate the foreground.
This is the only photo I have seen of this piece unfortunately. I say unfortunately partly because I don't think that this is the mural in full. I think that we are only seeing part of it here. In fact I would really go out on a limb and venture a guess that this may even be only half of the original mural. However we are really blessed to have an actual color photo of the mural which in my research is quite rare.
According to his Wikipedia entry ( and several other sources), he executed a second mural at the Century of Progress--this one being for the General Motor exhibit. However I have not been able to locate a photo of this mural. However I think that he may have had a part in either the design and or execution of the GE House of Magic murals. I wonder if as time has passed if the names General Electric and General Motors haven't been confused.
Photo: Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment