A jury composed of John I.H. Baur, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, two architects (Ely Jacques Kahn and Nathaniel Saltonstall), as well as artists Isabel Bishop and Ben Shahn selected Sidney Hurwitz to paint two fresco panels during the summer of 1956. Hurwitz’s panels are located on the eastern wall, directly next to the windows, flanking Ashley Bryan’s fresco on the central curved wall.
The left fresco depicts four figures, one woman and three men, in a rural and arid setting, dressed in loose fitting clothing that helps situate them in a biblical time period. Each figure is shown going about a different activity. The two men on the left pick fruit and straw, the man in the middle walks with a shepherd’s crook, and the woman on the right kneels next to a large blue vase and bowl filled with fruit while holding a smaller vessel. The space is filled by tall trees that resemble palms, with two birds sitting atop the tree on the right. Two lions, one male and one female, stand in the middle ground of the composition. In the background, we see yellow plains and distant mountains.
The right fresco depicts six men in a boat. Two kneel and hold fishing nets, two stand holding the boat’s sails, and the last two stand on the back of the boat: one, dressed in red watches on, while another dressed in purple steers the boat with a large rudder. In the background of the composition, faint vertical stripes resemble the boat’s sails, creating a sense of depth. The boat itself is simple, with a wavy pattern around the edge that is repeated in the rudder.
Hurwitz based his frescoes on these passages from Psalm 104:
He sendeth the springs into the valley, which run among the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst. (Psalm 104:10–11)
Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. (Psalm 104:17)
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. (Psalm 104:21)
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season (Psalms 104:24–27)
Hurwitz explained that these verses “deal with creatures inhabiting the earth” and that he tried “to epitomize the dependence of both God and man and animals on an order in nature” (qtd. in Cummings 50). In several parts of his frescoes, Hurwitz interprets the psalms literally, such as the storks in the trees and the mountains in the background of the left fresco. In both depictions, there is an emphasis on gathering sustenance, and if we keep in mind verses 24 and 27, then the paintings convey the message that God is the reason that the Earth provides everything humans need. The left panel portrays a particularly Edenic image of the harmony between humans, nature, and God. While there are wild animals next to the humans, they are not threatening. Hurwitz also hoped to connect the imagery in his frescoes to the actual location of the Meeting House, as “Maine is a rural state and there are animals. And it’s also a maritime state and has things happening with the sea and trying to sort of combine that with some images that might relate … to the scriptural sources” (“50th Anniversary” 14).
While the figures in both frescoes are at work, they labor with a degree of ease that reveals that harvesting God’s fruits is a rewarding act. For example, the figures in the field and the fisherman appear very much in harmony with their environment. Comparing Hurwitz’s depiction to 19th-century realist paintings, such as Jean-François Millet’s The Sower, we see how Hurwitz’s figures, while working, are not straining. Millet depicts a drastically different image of labor, where the figure toils in a bleak environment. In contrast, Hurwitz crafts a scene of idyllic and harmonious labor, celebrating God’s creation.
Hurwitz’s left fresco panel might allude to depictions of the Calling of the Apostles. Duccio di Buoninsegna shows apostles in a similar boat pulling up a net full of fish. Hurwitz’s fresco echoes Duccio’s composition, thus connecting Old and New Testament.
In addition to representing humans living in harmony with the natural world, Hurwitz creates harmony within the meeting house by linking his frescoes to Ashley Bryan’s composition, which sits between Hurwitz’s panels. Hurwitz consciously chose his imagery to connect with Bryan’s fresco, continuing the land on the left of the scene and the water on the right. As a result, the East wall gains a sense of cohesion as the natural landscapes flow into one another. The windows right next to Hurwitz’s frescoes illuminate the scenes, adding to the frescoes’ message of harmony with nature, demonstrating how God permeates nature and the everyday, as well as how the outside world permeates the meeting house itself.
—Emma Baker
- “50th Anniversary of the Fresco Project.” Typescript. South Solon Historical Society Collection, Special Collections & Archives, Colby College Libraries.
- Cummings, Mildred H. South Solon: The Story of a Meeting House. South Solon, Maine: South
- Solon Historical Society, 1959.
- King James Bible Online. Cambridge Edition: 1769; King James Bible Online, 2022.
- MFA Boston. “Jean-François Millet, The Sower.”
- National Gallery of Art. “Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew.”