The law School's Curry Mural:One of the Grandest and MostDistinguished Works of Art in WisconsinPaul Reidinger

Across the north wall of what the currentgeneration of Wisconsin law students knowas the old Reading Room of the Law Libraryis a vast and eye-catching mural, "TheFreeing of the Slaves."

But there was a day when what now isthe old was, instead, the new Reading Room,just added as part of a new wing to theoriginal Law Building built with fundssupplied by one of the alphabetical agenciesof President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.And the striking mural which adorned thenew Reading Room was the product of anunderstanding collaboration between theartist, John Steuart Curry, and the then LawDean Lloyd Garrison.

The following is a brief account of theorigins and an interpretation of the executionof that collaboration which was written byPaul Reidinger; now a second-year lawstudent at Wisconsin.

It is no exaggeration to say that the mural"The Freeing of the Slaves" dominatesthe Law Library's old Reading Room.Indeed the work is probably the visualcenterpiece of the entire Law Building: itannounces itself to the most fleeting ofglances. The mural was painted in theLaw School more than forty years ago byJohn Steuart Curry, one of America'sleading regional artists of the twentiethcentury and a native Midwesterner. It isone of the grandest and most distin-guished works of art in the state and themost conspicuous of a number of Curryworks located on campus and aroundMadison.

Curry originally conceived the muralin the early 1930s as a depiction of theexperience in America of Blacks andother immigrants. By 1936, when heproposed the design for the new JusticeDepartment building in Washington, D.C., he had reduced its theme to a treat-

ment of the Emancipation Proclamation.But nervous politicians deemed this ideatoo politically difficult and rejected it. Anannoyed Curry removed to Madison,where the proposed painting drew theattention of Lloyd Garrison, then Deanof the UW Law School.

Garrison's interest in "Freeing of theSlaves" was more than cursory: his grand-father was William Lloyd Garrison, thefamous nineteenth century Abolitionist,and Dean Garrison maintained a deepinterest in the history of the Civil Warand related matters. He suggested toCurry that the mural might fit nicely inthe reading room of the library additionthen under construction, and Curryagreed. For his efforts Curry received amodest $6000, paid from a contributionby the Pabst family in Milwaukee.

Execution of the project posed fewdifficulties. The design was traced onto acanvas-covered board fitted into the

The Curry mural measures an impressive 12by 35 feet. The central figure stands almost11 feet tall.

Photo by Gary SchultzUW Photo Media Service

pediment-shaped space atop the northwall, and tilted downward slightly toprevent accumulation of dust. The imageswere then painted in over a period of aabout a year. According to Maurice Leon,Professor Emeritus and then long-timeLaw Librarian, Curry and one assistantworked from a system of scaffoldingerected over the loan desk, which contin-ued to function despite the proceedingsdirectly overhead.

In theme and expression, the mural isvintage Curry: it is straightforward, vivid,almost crude. Curry, along with ThomasHart Benton and Grant Wood (painter of"American Gothic"], was one of the greatvisual exponents of prairie populism inthe first half of this century. These paint-ers practiced what is called "socialistrealism": their art eschews the genteeland pretty in favor of portrayals of every-day lives and broad social realities. Theirstyle was not refined and delicate butsimple and clear.

These characteristics are much inevidence in "The Freeing of the Slaves."The theme of the mural itself touches avast social upheaval: the release fromslavery of millions of blacks. The humanfigures are not highly individualized butmembers of one of two groups-slave' orsoldier. Two dead soldiers-one Union,one Confederate-lie in the dust in thecorner of the foreground; to the left darkclouds roil as frightened slaves emergefrom their shabby huts; to the right Unionbayonets gleam in the sunlight that beginsto shine through the storm. These imagesare powerful, direct, and simple.

Their effect is heightened by Curry'suse of color. Not for him delicate pastelsand subtle shadings; instead he usesclear, strong colors that express some ofthe fundamental passion of the work.The contrast is particularly strikingbetween the purplish-gray storm cloudsand the flaring orange-yellow sunlightthat begins to dissipate them.

Perhaps because of these very quali-ties, Curry's reputation in recent yearshas declined somewhat. What was oncethought honest and lucid is now said tobe vulgar and provincial. Such is gener-ally the fate of painters, who-like allother artists-must ride the historicalrollercoaster of critical opini9n. There isan element of truth in the current depre-cations of Curry: he was proud of hisMidwestern heritage and celebrated it inhis art. No doubt at some point in thefuture his reputation will regain some ofits lustre; critics, after all, thrive on revis-ing the opinions of their predecessors.

But in an important sense Curry'sstatus among critics is irrelevant to thesplendid work of art he left to the UWLaw School. "The Freeing of the Slaves"is ambitious in theme, spectacular inexecution, and deeply interwoven withthe long history of the institution.