The Works Progress Administration-era murals, created in 1936 by Allen Saalburg and each over ten feet tall, were removed ten years ago during a renovation of Pelham Bay Park’s Split Rock Golf House in the Bronx, New York. They were carefully cleaned, stabilized and conserved before being reinstalled in the Greek Revival-style clubhouse that serves New York City’s only 36-hole golf facility.
After their removal a decade ago during renovations, two Surrealist murals by Allen Saalburg have been conserved and are now back on view at Split Rock Golf House, the Greek Revival-style clubhouse for the Pelham Bay and Split Rock golf courses in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, New York, reported Hyperallergic, an online arts magazine.
The two Works Progress Administration (WPA)-era murals, each over ten feet tall, were reinstalled in mid-February after being cleaned, stabilized, and conserved, with their curious imagery of horses, bulls, flowers, scrolls, and other layered details finally back in place above two fireplace mantels in the Split Rock Golf House’s central parlor, Hyperallergic reported.
“They really complement the decor of the room visually, with the blacks, grays, and yellows,” Jonathan Kuhn, Director of Art and Antiquities at NYC Parks, told Hyperallergic.
Saalburg painted the murals, Hyperallergic reported, when the Pelham Bay property was renovated in 1936 as a WPA-funded project during the New Deal recovery effort from the Great Depression. Along with the Split Rock golf course, the property now serves as New York City’s only 36-hole golf facility.
Kuhn explained that Saalburg was the head of New York City’s WPA mural project, a role, the story goes, that he got after Robert Moses admired his design for a hot dog cart. The artist, who died in 1987, had a long career in commercial painting and silkscreens, Hyperallergic reported, and created numerous magazine covers for Fortune, Vanity Fair, and the Saturday Evening Post. He also did theatrical designs (some of which are now in the Whitney Museum of American Art), and murals for the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs.
Following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hyperallergic reported, Saalburg designed a poster for the Office of War Information that showed the American flag in tatters, still waving before a cloud of smoke, with the words “Remember Dec. 7th!” in red.
The Split Rock Golf House murals feature a modern aesthetic, Hyperallergic reported, with the collage of imagery surrounded by painted frames with foliage-like flourishes. In one of the murals, a pile of coins tumbles in front of a horse head, doll, disembodied head, and decorative tower topped with a scroll, while in the background two white horses run across an empty landscape.
In the other, gold chains spill over a dark ledge, and flowers, a woman’s face, and a steer with its horns draped with fabric mingle in front of a column.
“They’re more in keeping with the commercial work he did where he’s fusing different stylistic ideas of that time, with Surrealism and late Cubism and even a little Rococo, with these plaster undulating areas that surround the panels,” Kuhn said. “It reminds me a little bit of Chirico, with some whimsy thrown in.”
The restoration of the large-scale murals was carried out by West Lake Conservators, Hyperallergic reported. Years of wear in the public space, including water damage, cracking, and paint loss, made it a complicated process, especially as the canvases were “marouflaged,” or glued, right on the walls. Their conservation report describes the extensive cleaning, infill painting for lost texture (large chunks were missing from areas like the horse and steer), and new supports that were added for their reinstallation.
As Kuhn stated, “The murals are really special, and they haven’t looked this good since they were put up.”
Photos of the murals and details on the conservation process can be viewed at https://hyperallergic.com/432406/allen-saalburg-surrealist-wpa-murals-bronx-golf-course/
The 1930s were a particularly busy time for New York City’s parks, Hyperallergic reported, with public pools built across the five boroughs, and the construction of Riverside Park. Of the seven mural projects created by Saalburg, Kuhn said, encompassing work at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, the barroom of Tavern on the Green, and the terrace restaurant at the Central Park Zoo, only two are extant.
Aside from the golf course murals, the other surviving project is inside the lobby of the Arsenal in Central Park, Hyperallergic reported. The huge work painted by Saalburg with his team of assistants covers the walls from floor to ceiling, with military scenes and a tableaux of people enjoying the park, including ice-skating and carriage rides illustrated in a style reminiscent of 19th-century Currier and Ives prints.
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