Detroit's Geometric Murals of the Seventies

This piece would not have been possible without the invaluable book Art In Detroit Public Places by Dennis Alan Nawrocki.  Especially the first and third editions. 

    Richard Nixon can usually be blamed for most things.  Geometric murals of the 1970s are no exception.  Not to say he should be blamed in a bad way, just to say his presidency and ultimate resignation resulted in a need to think in shapes.  The shapes were a panacea for war and scandal.  Subliminally his presence is still felt though.  NIXON is the most geometric name of any president we've ever had, so it's no surprise that this style of mural was de rigueur during, and soon after, the Watergate era.

    Murals are rarely granted protective status.  It seems to be understood that natural wear, whim, development, advertising, transfer of ownership, vandalism, or just plain apathy are going to be subjected upon them at one point or another.   Some of the seventies murals were simply painted over, like Lester Johnson's "Continuum" which used to grace the side of the Edison substation at Grand River and Scotten.  Another, Alvin Loving's "Message to Demar and Lauri" which covered eighteen stories on the eastern wall of the First National Building downtown, was apparently powerwashed away.  Close observation, however,  will reveal the faint outline of the oddly stacked cubes which made up what was once called "the world's largest outdoor painting."  So it is somewhat remarkable that, after 35 years or more, there are still five murals which can be seen today.

    Charles McGee's 1974 untitled painting was commissioned by New Detroit, Inc. for the World Energy Conference held in the city that year.  It is slowly fading from the side of what used to be the Pontchartrain Wine Cellars and is now Club Envy.  Recently two windows were punched through its field.  Ironically, given its origin, it now has a continuously scrolling electronic sign just below its border. 

     John Egner's mural on the north side of the Park Shelton Apartments has seen better days.  It is now about half its original 1974 height of 96 feet, having had a parking structure grow in front of it.  It has also become an advertisement for the mysterious Par She Ton Apartments.  This sign was not part of the original painting so its a shame to make it appear as though it was done for this purpose and not as a work of art.  Also, there seems to have been some sort of structural repair done to the building which has left several new, or at least freshly scrubbed, rows of bricks running through the mural every few feet.

    The most easily missed mural adorns the side of the former Taj Perfume Company building on Gratiot Avenue just south of Russell Street.  It is the work of Steve Foust and, facing west, it has been slowly fading with every sunset since 1973.   The mural now gives the building a look not unlike many in the city where a neighboring building, having been torn down, has left rough mortar lines in its absence.  The blue and yellow squares which once made the wall shimmer are still capable of this if you stare at it long enough. 

This building is obviously being looked-after and, on a side note, also has Detroit's most curious cinder block set in its back wall.  An apparent one-brick foray into masonry by a brewery heir.
    On Washington Boulevard south of Clifford another 1973 mural can be seen in fairly decent shape.  David Rubello neatly printed his name in the bottom right corner of his work, titled "Color Cubes."   Its placement on the north side of the building, ensuring the least amount of sun, has probably done more to preserve it than anything.

    This is another mural where more than a cursory look will reward the viewer.  The lines are still crisp enough to make the cubes flip with your eyes and mind.
    Finally, hidden down in Delray on the Edward W. Duffy mechanical tubing company warehouse at the corner of Cavalry and W. Jefferson, Robert Sestock's 1975 work is still pristine and daunting.  It is one of the great artistic treasures of the city and should be visited by everyone.  It probably doesn't even have anything to do with the "O" in Nixon, but you never know, that Nixon was a wily one.