Harvard Art Museum
Lewis Rubenstein Murals, 1937 (Aug 2 2011, by Erin Murphy)
The Harvard Art Museums Archives recently completed a processing project, generously funded by The Getty Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). In the process of cataloging its major holdings from 1895-present, the Archives has uncovered some wonderful documents. The following represents material found during this project.
Painter, educator and muralist, Lewis Rubenstein attended Harvard University (class of 1930), and later became professor of painting at Vassar College in 1939. He was commissioned to create murals by the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Fogg Museum at Harvard, as well as the Jewish Center in Buffalo, N.Y., and the Wareham, Mass. Post Office for the WPA’s Section of Fine Arts in 1940.
The murals painted in the (now) Busch-Reisinger Museum in 1930 proved to be quite controversial. The murals, unveiled in 1937, portray characters Niebelung and Ragnarok of German legend. According to the artist, the characters in the murals are depicted in modern accessories to show the current threat to world peace for that time: fascism. Rubenstein stressed that the murals were, “frescos based on Germanic/Norse legends and used to make commentary on world events not to represent any specific figures.”
The Germanic legend called the Nibelungenlied or “The Song of the Nibelungs” is an epic poem written in Middle High German. It is a four-part story of heroic motifs about a dragon slayer whose death is avenged. The two main characters, Niebelung and Ragnarok are depicted in Rubenstein’s work. This October 31, 1935 article from The Crimson describes the controversial nature of the work. Many people felt that Rubenstein’s mural was a political commentary on Germany’s Socialist regime because the Nazi invasion of Poland occurred two years prior to the unveiling. To many, the mural itself was considered an “insult to the leader of foreign nation.”
The murals were covered by paneling from 1964 until 1980, when Rubenstein requested it be removed in honor of his 50th class reunion.
Archives of American Artists
Lewis W. Rubenstein papers, 1923-1993
Rubenstein, Lewis W. (Lewis William), 1908-2003 Painter, Printmaker, Educator
Vassar College
Catherine Pelton Durrell ’25 Archives & Special Collections Library
Vassar College has an extensive collection of the papers and sketches of Lewis Rubenstein and examples of his work, including lithographs and the art of the 1930s.
Guide to the Lewis Rubenstein Papers, 1950-circa 1974
Images of the work held by Vassar College can be found here
St. Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL)
The Rubenstein family has donated works of the 1930s to the Mercantile Library. Please contact:
Julie A. Dunn-Morton, Ph.D.
Mercantile Library Endowed Curator of Fine Art
Mercantile Library Endowed Research Professor
St. Louis Mercantile Library at UMSL
One University Blvd.
St. Louis MO 63121-4400
Phone 314-516-6740
www.umsl.edu/mercantile
In addition to the work donated by the Rubenstein family, the labor lawyer Bruce Feldacker has donated his works of the 1930s to the Mercantile Library. Bruce was good friend of Lewis Rubenstein.
Sone of the works held by the Mercantile Museum include The Time Painting Mining Town, and extensive drawings done by Lewis Rubenstein when he was living with the miners at the Case Verde Copper Mine in Jerome, Arizona in 1937. These works are stunning.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Steel Mill | Amon Carter Museum of American Art
