Blashfield (1848-1936) was one of America’s leading mural
painters at a time when public buildings of all sorts had elaborate stories to
tell. Edited by Mina Rieur Weiner, Edwin
Howland Blashfield: Master American Muralist (W.W. Norton), offers an
implicit argument against the white boxes of modernism and in favor of the
fusion of architecture and art that Blashfield represented. The function of public
space a century ago wasn’t merely to house offices or accommodate a crowd, but
to teach the buildings’ users the civic values of America.
Whether the images chosen were always the most
representative or apt is a question for another book. Master American Muralist is a succinct overview of Blashfield’s
work, illustrated by dozens of color photographs of murals from courthouses,
capitols and colleges. Gazing at them allowed triggers the thought that
graduating from college—and even mailing letters at the post office—is a
chapter in a mythic cycle of human progress.
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