University Park, Pa. -- Held in tandem with Penn State's sesquicentennial celebration, the Henry Varnum Poor exhibition at the Palmer Museum of Art features numerous preparatory studies for what have come to be known as the Land Grant Frescoes, which are located in the University's Old Main building.
Included are several cartoons -- full-size sketches used by the artist to transfer his mural design to the wall. Additional paintings, drawings and watercolors by Poor, selected from the museum's permanent collection as well as from other collections on campus, also will be on view.
In 1938, distinguished muralist Henry Varnum Poor was approached with the idea of decorating the north wall over Old Main's grand staircase. The theme: celebrating Penn State's founding as a land grant institution under the Morrill Act of 1862. Poor agreed to work on the project, and, over the course of several months during the spring of 1940, executed the first stage of the plan in true fresco manner. Although additional funds were soon secured to extend the design to the east and west walls of the balcony level in Old Main's lobby, World War II intervened. Poor returned after the war, in the fall of 1948, and completed the newer murals by June of the following year.
The Palmer Museum of Art is displaying "Henry Varnum Poor: Studies for the Land Grant Frescoes" now through Sunday, June 5. The Palmer Museum of Art is located on Curtin Road near the University Creamery, and admission is free.
To see the frescoes, visit Old Main during business hours or visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/frescoes/frescoes.html