Detail, Dielman Mosaic (1908)

Our shirtless shackled hero - or villain? - in the allegorical representation of the executive branch lacks a nipple.

 

Artisans capable of producing such a splendid mosaic should have been able to depict a nipple had they been directed to - or would it have disrupted the flowing lines of tiles that give the surfaces a sense of topographic relief?

 

According to the Iowa legislature's Web site,

 

"Six mosaics in arched panels are located directly above the mural painting Westward, located on the east side of the Capitol's third floor. The mosaics were made in Venice, Italy, out of tiles of glass. Frederick Dielman of New York created the mosaics, installing them at the Capitol in 1908. The mosaics depict Defense, Charities, Education, and the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. Dielman was paid $10,000 to create this work of art, the last artwork to be installed in the Capitol."

 

"The following, taken from the book The Iowa Capitol: A Harvest of Design, was written regarding the mosaics:

 

'The reason for using mosaics instead of paint, was to get as much of an architectural feeling in these panels as possible, and to avoid conflict or rivalry between them and the mural, Westward, directly below. Another reason was to give the Dielman mosaics carrying power enough to overcome the extra distance from the spectator. It will be observed that the mosaics have been made to take up the color and feeling of the architecture about them. . .' "

 

For even more information about the mosaics, please go to:

 

www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/LSA/Tidbits/2012/TBJMA014.PDF

 

You'll be glad you did.

 

Concerning the artist, Wikipedia tells us:

 

"Frederick Dielman (25 December 1847 – August 25, 1935) was an American portrait and figure painter."

 

"He was born in Hanover, Germany. He was taken to the United States in early childhood. He graduated from Calvert College in New Windsor, Maryland, in 1864, and from 1866 to 1872 served as a topographer and draughtsman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fortress Monroe and Baltimore, and in the survey of canal routes over the Alleghanies in Virginia. He then studied under Wilhelm von Diez at the Royal Academy at Munich where he received a medal in the life class."

 

"He opened a studio in New York City, where he worked at first as an illustrator of books and magazines, and became a distinguished draughtsman and painter of genre pictures. He was one of the original members of the Society of American Artists, was made a National Academician in 1883, and was also a member of the American Water Color Society, the New York Etching Club, and the Salmagundi Sketch Club. He was president of the Arts Federation of New York."

 

"In 1899, he was elected president of the National Academy of Design. In 1903, Dielman became professor of drawing at the College of the City of New York and about the same time was made director of the art schools at Cooper Union."

 

"He made major contributions to deluxe editions of works by Longfellow, Hawthorne, George Eliot, and other writers, and to the various publications of the Tile Club, of which he was a member. His mural decorations and mosaic panels for the Library of Congress in Washington are notable. Among his pictures shown at National Academy exhibitions were 'The Patrician Lady' (1877), 'Young Gamblers' (1885), and a 'Head' (1886). One of the best known of his illustrations is that entitled 'A Girl I Know.' "

 

 

Done