Resilience lecture: New Deal murals

Piero della Francesca's Hercules, fresco,

1470 source.

In the second of four Resilience lectures, Luciano Cheles will discuss the influence of Italian art, primarily during the Renaissance period, on American artists working during the Great Depression.


Cheles will focus on Piero della Francesca's influence on New Deal artists -- which include Broadmoor Art Academy figures such as Boardman Robinson, George Biddle, Frank Mechau, Ethel Magafan and Eric Bransby (who is unveiling his new FAC mural this same day at 5:30 p.m.!). Cheles is best known for his book on The Studiolo of Urbino: An Iconographic Investigation. He is a Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Poitiers (France).

Here are some of Piero della Francesca's works... Try to find any similarities between this 15th century Italian Renaissance painter and 20th century American artists during the New Deal:

(left to right, top to bottom) Legend of the True Cross: Exaltation of the Cross, fresco, 1466, source. Legend of the True Cross: Constantine's Dream, fresco, 1455, source. Death of Adam from the Legend of the True Cross Cycle, fresco, mid 1450s, source. Saint Peter Martyr, fresco, 1452, source. Sigismondo Malatesta Venerating Saint Sigismund, fresco, 1451, source.

Luciano Cheles, Piero della Francesca's Impact on New Deal Muralists

Fri., April 20 | 6 p.m.
Non-members $7.50 (FAC Members $5)
Buy tickets online or call the Box Office 719.634.5583

Eric Bransby Mural Unveiling and Dedication

Fri., April 20 | 5:30 p.m.
FREE and and open to the public