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Village Vignettes
Archives:
"Free Love in the Glen"
"Mary Mann Letters"
"Early History of Yellow Springs Schools "
Current: A Preservation Puzzle:
History is Where You Find It
Gilbert Wilson Mural, seen
with fireplace
Mural by itself
Mural, "Joseph" detail
Mural, "Madonna" detail
showing paint damage
Mural, close-up view
of paint damage
Mural, Goethe detail
Mural, detail of bulbs
"Give Us This Day"
stairway mini-mural
"Give Us This Day"
close-up view
Usually when one thinks of historical preservation, one thinks of highly-visible public monuments and buildings, and proponents of historical preservation have a fairly easy time publicizing the object of interest. Sometimes, however, there are smaller items of historical interest threatened by the same forces of decay or a shift of priorities, but because they aren't portable (like paintings, furniture or pottery, e.g.) or easily visible to the general public (like the aforementioned buildings and monuments), they are more likely to be lost.
A local property owner recently brought such an historical curiosity to the attention of the Yellow Springs Historical Society, and we have yet to arrive at a way to ensure its preservation, because the preservation costs appear to be beyond our capabilities, and property laws are not designed to cover easements on architectural details on the interior of a structure.
The property owner's house was once the residence of Depression-era Antioch College sculpture instructor Amos Mazzolini, who apparently provided room and board to visiting Indiana muralist Gilbert Wilson while he was creating his “Man Emerges” mural for the Antioch physical education building. Wilson created two smaller examples of his art for the Mazzolini living room, which are unusual for their religious subject matter (Wilson's usual topics tended to be more influenced by radical politics). One is what appears to be a Holy Family with a passage from Goethe rendered in both German and English above the fireplace, and the other a rendering of praying hands in the triangular space beneath the staircase.
These personal murals are in increasing peril from water damage, so the challenge becomes how to preserve these unusual examples of an artist's oeuvre. The questions are complex: Are they worth preserving? Assuming that the funds can be raised (which is a sizeable question itself) and the technology is feasible (another sizeable question), would it be preferable to attempt to remove the murals for reinstallation in a place more accessible to researchers and the public? If they need to remain where they are, how can their preservation be assured and access to them guaranteed should ownership change hands? The Yellow Springs Historical Society welcomes suggestions on these matters. Email can be sent to webmaster@yshistory.org; regular mail may be addressed to Yellow Springs Historical Society, P.O. Box 501, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387-0501.