Murals

Murals: Cave, Cathedral, to Street     By Micheal Capek   Lerner Publications   1996

What I like about this book is that it makes the linkages that are promised by the title by taking on an expanded definition of what constitutes a mural. . Typically mural books are compartmentalized. Mural books usually focus on contemporary urban murals, often with a nod in the direction of classic Mexican murals. Other forms of painting that can be considered murals are usually categorized differently.

However, if you define a mural as a large painting that is done on a wall, and you look through history, you can find many examples of murals. The Sistine Chapel, Mayan frescos, cave paintings, and Egyptian tomb art would all fall under this definition. Usually these examples would not be considered in relation to contemporary murals because they fall under different disciplines. The book further expands upon this by considering some examples of mosaics under its rubric.

The book starts with contemporary murals, and then it stretches into the past to link the art form with earlier analogs such as historical murals in the US, Mexican murals, Italian Renaissance Murals, Ancient Roman & Egyptian wall art, and cave paintings.

I am quite fond of the very striking piece on that appears page 52. For me, it sums up what this book is about. The painting in question is “The Fall of the Giants”, which was painted by Giulio Romano from 1532-1534. It is simply a triumph of the imagination that shares many of the sensibilities of modern urban mural art and wild style graffiti in an Italian Renaissance framework. It simply transcends the boundaries of time and space.