When we arrived at this RV park the office presented us with a packet of information about the area. One of the pamphlets detailed a walking tour of Artesia, NM with one of the points of interest being the new library built in 2013. A very beautiful, modernistic structure with lots of steel and glass also holds a huge curved mural painted by American artist Peter Hurd.
At one time Peter Hurd lived in this area and had a studio in Artesia, dying in Roswell, NM in 1984. He was a war correspondent for Life during World War II. Hurd painted what was to have been
(photo from Wikipedia)
an official portrait of President Lyndon Johnson except the President didn’t like the painting calling it, “the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” In 1952 Hurd painted the mural, The Future Belongs To Those Who Prepare For It inside the Prudential Life Insurance Building on the Texas Medical Center campus in Houston, TX.
The building was owned by MD Anderson Cancer Center and scheduled for demolition in 2008. The murals’ worth was judged to be about $4 million and the Cancer Center was offering the mural free to anyone who would move it. An anonymous benefactor paid the approximate $500,000 moving and restoration cost to bring the 16x47, thirteen ton mural to Artesia.
The mural was lowered by crane through the removable roof of the new library and placed on steel and concrete columns. The mural is illuminated and visible at night through the huge windows of the library.
(photo borrowed from internet)
We loved the mural, it was stunning!—Artesia is an amazingly wealthy little New Mexico town—lots of oil money and jobs here creating a strong sense of community. Now if they could just do something about this fog!
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That was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteNeat story on the mural. We love to find things like this along the way to wherever.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that he studied under N.C. Wyeth... his artwork is somewhat similar. Next time we're in Roswell we'll have to check this out.
ReplyDeleteGlad you explained about this being a wealthy community. That is a gorgeous library. Most communities really struggle to build a new library and they don't look like this one. This one is unique with that glassed front and then they way they display that beautiful painting. How cool!!
ReplyDeleteBoy, this town is in the middle of no where. I had to go to Google maps to see where it is. Thanks for the introduction.