25th in a series
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Muralist Henry Varnum Poor is surrounded by curious students and faculty as he paints the center section of the famous Land-Grant Frescoes in Old Main in 1940. The frescoes portray people and events from the University's founding through the 1940s and were a gift of the classes of 1932 and 1946. Poor painted the murals, which cover about 1,300 sq. ft., in two phases, 1940 and 1948-49. He worked in true fresco, painting directly on wet plaster that was freshly applied by his daughter Anne each morning. The pigment thus became part of the wall itself. The idea for a pictorial synthesis of Penn State's growth as a land-grant institution originated in the 1930s with professors of art and architectural history Harold E. Dickson, J. Burn Helme, and Francis E. Hyslop. They were instrumental in engaging Poor, creator of several murals for public buildings in Washington and widely acknowledged master of the fresco medium. For more on the Land-Grant Frescoes, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/frescoes/frescoes.html
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