KU News Release

New University Press book features rich tradition of mural art in Kansas

LAWRENCE — A new book, Kansas Murals: A Traveler's Guide, reveals a rich tradition of mural art in Kansas and offers a unique cultural tour of the state.

The University Press of Kansas book features 90 color photos of the more than 600 murals located in Kansas. Lora Jost and David Loewenstein took the photos and researched and wrote the guidebook, which lists murals in more than 160 Kansas communities. The book includes brief biographical sketches of the mural artists as well as regional locator maps and a full list all 600 murals by community.

Saralyn Reece Hardy, director of the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, who provides the book’s foreword, describes murals as “true public art, out there for anyone to embrace or ignore.”

“These murals do not reside in the focused and hushed spaces of the art gallery; rather, they cohabit with the hustle of an urban landscape, may be stained by the vagaries of the weather, or may be forced to tolerate the daydreaming glance of a preoccupied observer,” Hardy said.

Hardy remembers as a child viewing a 1930s mural by Birger Sandzen in the Belleville post office. The mural, which includes a line of gold and blue horses approaching a Kansas stream, “continues to enliven this ordinary social space,” she said. Post offices in Lindsborg and Halstead also have murals by Sandzen, the Swedish immigrant who settled in Lindsborg and whose art is known throughout the state.

The authors found that many Kansas murals depict the past, such as scenes of early Plains Indians in Haskell Indian Nations University’s auditorium by the late Cherokee artist Franklin Gritts; the arrival of Coronado seen in the expansive “Entrada,” by Stan Herd in Liberal; and Civil War history such as “A Look Back” in the Shawnee City Hall building.

Agriculture, industry and labor are frequent themes in many cities including Seneca’s “Men of Wheat” painted in 1940 by Joe Jones in the post office and the Pittsburg Public Library’s “Solidarity,” a Wayne Wildcat mural depicting Kansas coal miners’ 1921 labor struggle. Modern themes such as space exploration is found in the Hutchinson Cosmosphere and Space Center.

Many murals splash across exteriors of a downtown building such as “The Saga of the Santa Fe” in Offerle northeast of Dodge City. Others drape farm silos such as a 9/11 inspired work by Karen Lewis of Abilene. Hays has a series of murals by local artist Rick Rupp that brighten bridge embankments.

Still others add drama to public spaces such as the state capitol, libraries and parks. Two murals featured in the book include John Steuart Curry’s painting of John Brown in the state capitol and the recently recreated 1937 “Aspects of Negro Life: Slavery through Reconstruction” by the late Aaron Douglas, in the Aaron Douglas Art Park.

Wichita has the greatest number of murals, with at least 77, said Jost. Lawrence may be second with about 57, including 10 murals found on Haskell’s campus and five on the KU campus. Other cities with several murals include Hutchinson and South Hutchinson, with a total of 21 between them; Coffeyville with 19, Salina and Great Bend each have 17 murals and Atchison has 15.

Loewenstein notes that the “90 murals just scratch the surface of the great wealth of murals in the state.”

Anticipating that some readers may know of murals that Jost and Loewenstein missed in their search, they invite Kansans to contact them by e-mail: lorajost@hotmail.com or dloewenstein@hotmail.com.

A list of the cities with murals is below.

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