Lawrence Massacre, Mural design for Fort Scott Kansas

Ethel Magafan, artist

1916–1993

Lawrence Massacre, Mural design for Fort Scott Kansas, 1937

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: watercolor; paper

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 10.2 x 25.5 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 4 x 10 1/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11.8 x 30 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 4 5/8 x 11 13/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 x 14 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1994.0002

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Windmills to Workshops: Lawrence and the Visual Arts," Jul-2004, Kate Meyer
After receiving a commission for a mural in Nebraska from the Treasury Department’s program to bring art into typically rural cities, Colorado painter Ethel Magafan created these studies in an attempt to win another commission for a mural in Fort Scott, Kansas. Though her entry Lawrence Massacre was a finalist for the prize, the work was rejected due to its depiction of political and violent events “the people of the locale are trying to forget.” A later study for the mural, now at the Denver Art Museum, reveals more detail in the faces and bodies of the figures than in these versions, yet maintains their simplified geometric form. Magafan interprets the Lawrence attack led by William Clark Quantrill on August 21, 1863. The early-morning raid left most of the downtown in ruin and as many as 200 people dead.

A Kansas Art Sampler, 2004-05

Ethel Magafan
American, 1916-1973
Lawrence Massacre (mural design for Fort Scott Kansas), 1937
Watercolor
Spencer Museum of Art: Museum purchase, 1994.0002

Colorado painter Ethel Magafan created this study in an attempt to win a mural commission from the Treasury Department for a post office in Fort Scott, Kansas. Though her entry of the Lawrence Massacre was a finalist for the prize, the work was rejected due to its depiction of political and violent events “the people of the locale are trying to forget.” Magafan interprets the Lawrence attack lead by William Clarke Quantrill on August 21, 1863.