- City:
- East Lansing, MI
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1936
- Artist:
- Carl H. Frezell
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
From the Kresge Art Museum website: “Originally intended for the Bessemer Courthouse boardroom in the Upper Peninsula, Natural Resources of Northern Michigan was given to Frances and Walter M. Berry sometime in the mid 1940s in appreciation for their years of local and statewide community service. The mural hung in the Caspian Community Center where Berry worked before becoming the Director of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. In 1957, the Berrys donated the mural to the Michigan State University Museum, where it now hangs in the Auditorium on the second floor.
Natural Resources of Northern Michigan depicts an amalgamated view of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, incorporating many of the subjects – agriculture, industry, and leisure – as well as the positive message of economic recovery that the WPA commission encouraged during the troubling years of the Great Depression. Painted in a representational style and accurately detailed, Frezell flanked the foreground image of leisure and tourism with images of the Upper Peninsula’s two main industries: Iron ore extraction and transportation on the left and logging and lumber on the right. The suspension bridge in the far upper left corner is likely Mackinac Bridge. Although the current structure was built between 1954 – 1957, engineers drew up proposals for the bridge in 1934 – 1935. Here, the bridge leads the viewer’s eye towards a distant city, drawing a relationship between the natural resources and labor of the Upper Peninsula to the urban population and the finances of the city. Although some buildings are identifiable such as the Lansing State Capital, the U.S. Capital, and the Statue of Liberty, Frezell represents a generic model city.”
Source notes
"Natural Resources of Northern Michigan," New Deal Art and Architecture: A Virtual Walking Tour
At this Location:
- Michigan State University: Auditorium - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Main Library Mural - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Music Building - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Music Building Sculpture - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Jenison Fieldhouse - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Terra Cotta Sculpture - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Campbell Hall - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Entrance Marker - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Union Building Mural - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Union Building Addition - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Olin Health Center - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Abbot Hall - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Giltner Hall - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Band Shell (demolished) - East Lansing MI
- Michigan State University: Music Building Reliefs - East Lansing MI
View all sites at Michigan State University - East Lansing MI (16 Sites)
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