The San Antonio Murals
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Eugene Montgomery is a nativeTexan, which probably accounts, at least in part, for his success in capturing the feeling and spirit of this Texas city in these murals. He was born and raised in Port Arthur and later attended the Art Institute in Chicago. He is an artist from a family of artists. Two of his uncles were artists and his brother and two of his sisters are artists. He married Claudia Remy while both of them were students at the Chicago Art Institute and he and his family presently live in Evanston Illinois. He very happily tells how helpful his wife and four children have been to him as a muralist, serving as both talented assistants and patient models.
Among Mr. Montgomery's better known works are the Knute Rockne portrait which hangs in the Rockne Memorial, and murals in the Allstate Insurance Building in Chicago, and in Sears stores in Houston; Savana; Salt Lake City; Charlotte, N.C., Joliet, Illinois; San Francisco; and San Diego. Mr. Montgomery is very proud of the fact that he did his first large mural for a Texas City (Houston) and now his most recent and his largest is the one you see on the South wall in Sears new San Antonio store. It measures more than one-hundred feet long. The mural on the North wall is approximately seventy-five feet long and both are seven feet tall. [from the Sears introduction pamphlet - 1954]
Among Mr. Montgomery's better known works are the Knute Rockne portrait which hangs in the Rockne Memorial, and murals in the Allstate Insurance Building in Chicago, and in Sears stores in Houston; Savana; Salt Lake City; Charlotte, N.C., Joliet, Illinois; San Francisco; and San Diego. Mr. Montgomery is very proud of the fact that he did his first large mural for a Texas City (Houston) and now his most recent and his largest is the one you see on the South wall in Sears new San Antonio store. It measures more than one-hundred feet long. The mural on the North wall is approximately seventy-five feet long and both are seven feet tall. [from the Sears introduction pamphlet - 1954]
The San Antonio story begins
The story begins appropriately enough with the San Antonio River...the river that wanders through the heart of the city, symbolizing the way its influence appears and reappears throughout the history of the city. It is at the headwaters of this river that the Papaya Indians settled and established a village on the present site of San Antonio.[1] The river and the settlement were known to them for perhaps hundreds of years as Yanguanna. On June 13, 1691, the village was discovered by Domingo Teran de los Rios, who was accompanied by Padre Damian Massenet and an escort of 50 Spanish soldiers. Gifts were distributed among the Indians. Padres Massenet had a Cross erected on the spot and he said the first Mass in the area, beginning the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. [2] And it was the Padre who renamed the river and the village San Antonio in honor of St. Anthony of Padua on whose feast day the discovery was made.
The real settlement of the area by Europeans dod not start until the arrival of Don Martin de Alarcon in 1718. [3] He led a group of 72 people and a goodly herd of livestock over the laborious 600 mile journey through the wilderness from Mexico. He and his soldiers established the original Presidio in San Antonio and it was at this point that many of the missions you now see in San Antonio were begun. [4] These first settlers also built the original La Villita (the Little Village) on the East side of the San Antonio River...and thus a portion of the gay Spanish way of life was transplanted to this, then-remote section of the New World. [5]
In 1731 a group of 16 families arrived from the Canary Islands and settled San Fernando Parish on the west side of the river. They erected the first large church in San Antonio on the site of the present Cathedral. [6] And so, the town developed for almost the next hundred years . . . peopled by Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans,Canary Islanders and their descendants. In 1821 Stephen F. Austin of Missouri, carrying out the wishes od his father Moses Austin and armed with a colonization permit issued by Governor Antonio Martinez brought the first group of North American settlers to the area. [7]
The real settlement of the area by Europeans dod not start until the arrival of Don Martin de Alarcon in 1718. [3] He led a group of 72 people and a goodly herd of livestock over the laborious 600 mile journey through the wilderness from Mexico. He and his soldiers established the original Presidio in San Antonio and it was at this point that many of the missions you now see in San Antonio were begun. [4] These first settlers also built the original La Villita (the Little Village) on the East side of the San Antonio River...and thus a portion of the gay Spanish way of life was transplanted to this, then-remote section of the New World. [5]
In 1731 a group of 16 families arrived from the Canary Islands and settled San Fernando Parish on the west side of the river. They erected the first large church in San Antonio on the site of the present Cathedral. [6] And so, the town developed for almost the next hundred years . . . peopled by Indians, Spaniards, Mexicans,Canary Islanders and their descendants. In 1821 Stephen F. Austin of Missouri, carrying out the wishes od his father Moses Austin and armed with a colonization permit issued by Governor Antonio Martinez brought the first group of North American settlers to the area. [7]
Article from the Southwestern - A Sears, Roebuck and company publication - May, 1978
murals rediscovered
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/communities/southside/article/Missing-Sears-murals-come-to-light-5835250.php
City worker Billy Steward recently discovered several large tubes among the junk he'd been directed to clear from a municipal building on the near East Side. Inside the tube were murals depicting different eras of Texas history.
One of them takes place in 1836 and shows the defeat of Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Another is Fiesta-themed and depicts the old Municipal Auditorium and a high school graduation.
Another painting illustrates this area's early settlement days, showing Spanish priests interacting with American Indians and construction of the missions.
Thinking he had found something significant, Steward notified the Institute of Texan Cultures.
Steward “was told to get rid of them,” ITC researcher Sarah Gould said. “He took a few pictures on his cellphone and came over here with his phone.
“He said, 'I was just wondering if you would take them because I was going to throw them away,'” Gould said. “And we said, 'Yes, thank you.'”
They discovered that Chicago-based artist Eugene Montgomery (1905-2001) painted the murals. He painted many for Sears Roebuck & Co.
The San Antonio paintings Steward found were completed in 1954. They made up one 175-foot-long mural called “The San Antonio Story” that spanned the inside of the store once located on Southwest Military Drive.
“I wouldn't call them super high art, ” Gould said, “but they're great popular art.”
When the store was remodeled in 1984, the murals were removed. According to Express-News archives, the Convention Center and airport were considered as possible second homes. Instead, they never surfaced and remained missing for 30 years — until now.
For the ITC, the first order of business is to determine the mural's proper owner.
Should the ITC keep the murals, they'll have to be preserved. One of the pieces has suffered significant water damage.
“We don't have an art conservator on staff, ” Gould said. “So if we were allowed to keep them, and if we brought them into the collection, we would probably contract them to come in and stabilize them.”
bolivo@express-news.net
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One of them takes place in 1836 and shows the defeat of Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Another is Fiesta-themed and depicts the old Municipal Auditorium and a high school graduation.
Another painting illustrates this area's early settlement days, showing Spanish priests interacting with American Indians and construction of the missions.
Thinking he had found something significant, Steward notified the Institute of Texan Cultures.
Steward “was told to get rid of them,” ITC researcher Sarah Gould said. “He took a few pictures on his cellphone and came over here with his phone.
“He said, 'I was just wondering if you would take them because I was going to throw them away,'” Gould said. “And we said, 'Yes, thank you.'”
They discovered that Chicago-based artist Eugene Montgomery (1905-2001) painted the murals. He painted many for Sears Roebuck & Co.
The San Antonio paintings Steward found were completed in 1954. They made up one 175-foot-long mural called “The San Antonio Story” that spanned the inside of the store once located on Southwest Military Drive.
“I wouldn't call them super high art, ” Gould said, “but they're great popular art.”
When the store was remodeled in 1984, the murals were removed. According to Express-News archives, the Convention Center and airport were considered as possible second homes. Instead, they never surfaced and remained missing for 30 years — until now.
For the ITC, the first order of business is to determine the mural's proper owner.
Should the ITC keep the murals, they'll have to be preserved. One of the pieces has suffered significant water damage.
“We don't have an art conservator on staff, ” Gould said. “So if we were allowed to keep them, and if we brought them into the collection, we would probably contract them to come in and stabilize them.”
bolivo@express-news.net
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The Artist at work
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