Murals at the FAC
Murals have long been an important part of the Fine Arts Center (FAC). In the 1930s and 40s, FAC artists George Biddle, Boardman Robinson, and Jean Charlot brought renewed focus to mural painting both at the FAC and nationwide. George Biddle knew the renowned artist Diego Rivera and was inspired by the Mexican government’s dynamic program of public murals. When Biddle’s friend President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated his New Deal plan to restart the economy after the Depression, Biddle suggested to the President that government funding for murals would both employ artists and beautify the nation’s public buildings. Boardman Robinson and Jean Charlot were both experienced muralists before coming to the FAC. Robinson became a regional director of the Public Works of Art Project and assigned many murals to FAC artists. Jean Charlot trained several generations of muralists at the FAC in the 1940s. Murals by FAC artists can be found in 29 states, from Hawaii to Massachusetts, as well as throughout the FAC itself. In the 1980s, the Colorado Springs Hispanic Arts Council commissioned Emanuel Martinez to paint a large-scale outdoor mural at the FAC.
Emanuel Martinez (b. 1947) collaborated with the Hispanic Arts Council and community members to complete Arte Mestiza (1986). Located in the FAC parking lot, the mural spans the full horizontal length and vertical height of the east of the space. Its layout evokes an outdoor gallery-like experience representing pre-Columbian, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Chicanx, and Western artistic styles and traditions.
Location: FAC Parking Lot
Boardman Robinson (1876-1952) created the untitled mural commission on the FAC’s entrance façade in 1936. The five vertical panels depict allegorical scenes about sculpture, drama, dance, music, and painting. After years of weather exposure, the mural was restored in 1985 by Eric J. Bransby (b. 1916), who studied with Robinson at the Broadmoor Art Academy and later taught there.
Location: FAC Entrance Façade
The Fine Arts Center 75th Anniversary Mural (2012) by Eric J. Bransby (b. 1916) celebrates the institution’s commitment to the visual arts, performing arts, and art education. Positioned in the Smith Family Gallery, the commissioned work portrays renowned figures of the FAC’s history engaged in artistic work and creative activities.
Location: FAC Smith Family Gallery
In 1936, Frank Mechau (1904-1946) completed Wild Horses, a mural commission situated above a row of high windows bordering in the FAC courtyard. This dynamic portrayal of the American West conveys a stampede of horses in diverse colors, sizes, and positionings in an elongated horizontal format.
Location: FAC Courtyard
