Chancellor Avenue School Mural – Newark NJ

City:
Newark, NJ

Site Type:
Art Works, Murals

New Deal Agencies:
Arts Programs, Work Relief Programs, Federal Arts Project (FAP), Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Artist:
Michael Lenson

Site Survival:
No Longer Extant

Description

The New York Times wrote the following in 2003 in a retrospective article of New Jersey-based artist Michael Lenson:

“[Mr. Lenson] moved to Newark and applied at the W.P.A. office on Halsey Street … Soon, Mr. Lenson was designing and executing murals for the state W.P.A. program. He went on to become assistant state supervisor in charge of the other muralists in the agency.”

While not confirmed, Michael Lenson purportedly painted a mural at Newark’s Chancellor Avenue School:

“[A]nother Lenson mural might be hiding behind the wall paint in a windowless room at the Chancellor Avenue School in Newark. According to a retired teacher who worked there for many years, sometime in the 1940s Lenson painted an “astronomical mural” on the walls and ceiling of a room in the school. The room, she further reports, was converted into a storage room and the murals were painted over.”

Source notes

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/24/nyregion/creating-murals-with-paint-and-purpose.html https://www.michaellenson.org/morenews.html

Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on December 7, 2013.

Location Info


844 Chancellor Ave.
Newark, NJ 07111
Essex County

Coordinates: 40.7178929, -74.24379

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2 comments on “Chancellor Avenue School Mural – Newark NJ

  1. This school is in Newark, not Irvington. I remember seeing this mural still visible on the ceiling in the 1960’s when it was used as a classroom.

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2 comments on “Chancellor Avenue School Mural – Newark NJ

  1. This school is in Newark, not Irvington. I remember seeing this mural still visible on the ceiling in the 1960’s when it was used as a classroom.

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.