mural

Ceiling painting, by Jean André Rixens. Salle des Illustres, Le Capitole, Toulouse, France.

A mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.

History

Murals of sorts date to prehistoric times such as the paintings on the Caves of Lascaux in southern France (18.000 BC). Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs, and in Pompeii.

The term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and 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 as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.

Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l'œil (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'oeil painting has experienced a renaissance in privat and public buildings in Europe. Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper which is then pasted to a wall surface (see wallpaper) to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.

Significance of murals

Jataka tales from the Ajanta caves, c. 200 BCE - 600 CE

Murals are important 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 of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art. Murals exist where people live and work and they can add to their daily lives.

Murals can be 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 murals can be found in Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry, Los Angeles, Nicaragua, Cuba and in India. [1] They 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.

Murals and politics

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

The famous Mexican mural movement in the 1930s brought a new prominence to murals as a social and political tool. Diego Rivera, José Orozco and David Siqueiros were the most famous artists of the movement. During the 1930s and '40s Colombia was in the middle of a dispute between the conservative and liberal parties. Tensions were high due to the strong communist force influence of the Soviet Union.

In 1948 the Colombian Government hosted the IX Pan-American Conference to establish the Marshall plan for the Americas. The director of the OEA and the Colombian government commissioned Master Santiago Martinez Delgado, to paint a mural in the Colombian congress building to commemorate the event. Martinez decided to make it about the Cucuta Congress, and painted Bolivar in front of Santander, making liberals upset; so, due to the murder of Jorge Elieser Gaitan the mobs of el bogotazo tried to burn the capitol, but the Colombian Army stopped them. Years later, in the 1980s, with liberals in charge of the congress, they passed a resolution to turn the whole chamber in the Elliptic Room 90 degrees to put the main mural on the side and commissioned Alejandro Obregon to paint a non-partisan mural in the surrealist style.

Northern Ireland contains some of the most famous political murals in the world. Many murals serve as a public service announcement of a special interest, notably for political topics such as sex, sexual orientation, religion and intolerance. Almost 2,000 murals have been documented in Northern Ireland since the 1970s. (See Northern Irish murals.)

Unique murals

The Bardia Mural, photographed in the 1960s, prior to its damage by defacement and the ravages of time.

Unique murals are found around the world. An example of such a mural covers a wall in an old building, once a prison, at the top of a cliff in Bardiyah, in Libya. It was painted and signed by the artist on April 1942, weeks before his death on the first day of the First Battle of El Alamein. Known as the Bardia Mural, it was created by English artist, Private John Frederick Brill.^[1]

The San Bartolo mural

The largest indoor mural measures 1,002 m² (9,731 ft²) and was painted by six artists in seven days from February 27, 2005 at Shyam Vatika, Saraswati Estate, Cimmco Tiraha, Gwalior, India.

The painting was co-ordinated by a professional mural artist (Aasutosh Panigrahi) and the owners of the place, R P Maheshwary and Ankur Maheshwary. The six artists, led by Aasutosh Panigrahi, broke a previously held Australian record. The previous largest indoor mural measured 727.52 m² (7,830.96 ft²) and was located at Youth Club, Bernie, Tasmania, Australia on 30 June 2004.

The art was painted on all interior walls and ceilings of a privately owned auditorium, Shyam Vatika, which is used for banquet purposes. The art was done to break a previously held record. In August 2005 the art was appraised by Guinness World Records as the "World's Largest Indoor Mural".

The Indian state Kerala has exclusive murals. These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples. They can be dated from 9th century CE.

The San Bartolo murals of the Maya civilization in Guatemala, are the oldest and finest example of this art in Mesoamerica and are dated at 300 BCE.

Murals in private homes

Forest mural in private home, England

Pool with a CAM designed Frescography printed on synthetic canvas.

Many people like to express their individuality by commissioning an artist to paint a mural in their home, this is not an activity exclusively for owners of large houses. A mural artist is only limited by the fee and therefore the time spent on the painting; dictating the level of detail; a simple mural can be added to the smallest of walls.

Private commissions can be for dining rooms, bathrooms, living rooms or, as is often the case- children's bedrooms. A child's room can be transformed into the 'fantasy world' of a forest or racing track, encouraging imaginative play and an awareness of art.

In the 1980´s illusionary wall painting experienced a renaissance in private homes. Foremost artists in this field have been Graham Rust (born 1942) and Rainer Maria Latzke born 1950). Because of their better time and cost effectiveness digital printing methods became an important alternative to hand-painted murals in the last decade. The disadvantage of the prefabricated wall paintings with their lack of fitting to the individual wall sizes and the wishes of clients became obsolete with the Frescography technique, a digital manufacturing method (CAM), invented 1998 by Rainer Maria Latzke.

Murals in advertising

A "wallscape" is a large advertisement on or attached to the outside wall of a building. Wallscapes can be painted directly on the wall as a mural, or printed on vinyl and securely attached to the wall in the manner of a billboard.

Tile mural

Panel of glazed tiles by Jorge Colaço (1922) depicting an episode from the battle of Aljubarrota (1385) between the Portuguese and Castilian armies. A piece of public art in Lisbon, Portugal.

Tile murals tile paintings,which cover complete walls and give a wall painting-like impression. Tile murals are typically found in countries around the Mediterranean Sea such as Morocco, Tunisia and Arabic countries, in Portuguesa and Spain mostly in a often monochrom-colored form, the Azulejo.

The Azulejo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐzuˈleʒu], Spanish pronunciation: [aθuˈlexo]) refers to a typical form of Portuguese or Spanish painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tilework. They have become a typical aspect of Portuguese culture, manifesting without interruption during five centuries the consecutive trends in art. Azulejos can be found inside and outside churches, palaces, ordinary houses and even train stations or subway stations. They were not only used as an ornamental art form, but also had a specific functional capacity like temperature control at homes. Many azulejos chronicle major historical and cultural aspects of Portuguese history.

Famous muralists

Diego Rivera's mural depicting Mexico's history at the National Palace in Mexico City.

See also

• Anamorphosis
• Bogside Artists
• Brixton murals
• Graffiti
• Marouflage
• Murals of Kerala, India
• Propaganda
• Public art
• Socialist realism
• Tiled printing
• Trompe-l'œil
• Watermelon House

Further reading

• Campbell, Bruce (2003). Mexican Murals in times of Crisis. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-2239-1. 
• Folgarait, Leonard (1998). Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940 : Art of the New Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-58147-8. 
• Rouse, E. Clive (1996). Mediaeval Wall Paintings. Guildhall: Shire Publications. 
• Woods, Oona (1995). Seeing is Believing? Murals in Derry. Guildhall: Printing Press. ISBN 0-946451-31-1. 
• Latzke, Rainer Maria (1999). Dreamworlds- The making of a room with illusionary painting. Monte Carlo Art Edition. ISBN 978-3-00-027990-4. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Murals

• Descriptions of many murals
• How to prepare a mural wall and protect the mural
• Political Wall Murals in Northern Ireland
• Calpams
• murals.trompe-l-oeil.info French and European gate of murals: 10 000 pictures and 1100 murals
• Temple Mural Paintings of Tamilnadu
• The National Society of Mural Painters (USA; founded 1895)
• International Index of Modern Muralism
• Ancient Maya Art
• Ancient Prehispanic Murals
• Global Murals Conference 2006 at Prestoungrange
• Mural Decoration in 1911 Britannica