Mural Eleven
INDUSTRIAL AVVA
К
E N I N G
In the series painted by Francis V. Kughler for the
Institute of Government building in Chapel llill
I hi\ Mural represents I he great development of industry that
occurred in North Carolina after the turn of the century. Lack
of space limited me and I had to confine myself to a painting of
only one industry as representative of all the others. I elected
to paint a scene embodying the textile industry since its ramifi¬
cations constitute a far-flung marshalling of the varied skills
and talents of the people.
The painting shows the interior of a textile factory in North
Carolina around the year 1920. A group of visitors headed by a
distinguished committee is seen on a tour of the factory. In the
central group at the back, the plant superintendent is displaying
a fabric of which the plant is especially proud, holding it over
his outstretched arms. Facing the superintendent stands the owner
of the factory, the well-dressed figure in a dark suit pointing his
finger at the fabric being exhibited. He seems to be asking a
pertinent question for the benefit of the visitors surrounding him.
The head of the delegation, between the owner and the superin¬
tendent. listens intently. To the left of the superintendent is a
capable looking grey-haired man with his hands in his pockets;
perhaps he is a publisher or trade journalist. To the right of the
plant owner arc two men examining the extended fabric with
quiet authority, testing the texture of the weave.
I he group of three men at the ton right arc part of the throng
walking through the aisles of the factory. Next to them stands
a white-haired woman watching what is taking place around the
fabric. To the right in the space between the lower spindle frame
and the loom saunters a group of six persons. In the foreground
to the left of the couple standing arm in arm is a group of three
important industrialists — one of the present day and two of the
past.
At the loom behind them, a young woman worker peers
timidly from under her curls at the visitors. In front of this
group, adding a lightsome touch to the scene, arc two children
sucking on candysticks — not at all impressed by the awe¬
inspiring company.
On the far side of the loom which the young woman is
operating, a child, fascinated by the moving strands, places her
finger on one of them much to the concern of her mother
who pulls her away. Behind them a calm-faced woman surveys
what is going on at a distance. Against the left edge of the
mural a burly factory hand carries off a boll of material that
has already been examined. Above him to the top left of the
superintendent stands a woman supervisor.
Through the large open door in the background the falls of a
power dam are visible; the power plant itself is on the other side
of the river. In the nearer distance, just outside the textile fac¬
tory. a workman hauls a bale of cotton on a pulley system to
the upper story. The bale is slashed open in places with the
cotton protruding. This was always done by distrustful jobbers
who from the earliest days of the industry wanted to be sure the
quality of cotton was the same throughout the bale — a practice
the industry has been unable to stop to the present day.
I he mural is particularly rich in subtle design nuances. Since
I wanted to convey a sensation of mechanical force and power,
a design woven of angular and diagonal elements seemed most
appropriate. Jagged edges meant agitation; agitation implied sharp
movement; and such movement implied cutting edges, gears, and
toothed wheels— in effect, the machine and the activity of in¬
dustry. Much use is made of perspective to achieve this result.
The racks of repetitive spindles add to the effect. Their design
mass on the right is balanced by a tall dark mass at the left,
the slanting side view of a large ease.
The principal background motif is a spacious open door. The
design itself separates into two horizontal groups of people —
one across the central area, the other across the foreground.
Ihcse arc connected by less compact groups at each side of the
center.
The lower central area is held together by the diagonal rolls
of the loom, and the lower left corner is stabilized by the
white mass of the forward part of the loom. The whole design
is held poised in equilibrium by the dark mass of the cotton
bale suspended high in the design against the sky. An off center
shift ot movement over the whole canvas is established by placing
in counterpoise the dark clothed central groups, the dark clothed
foreground group, and the dark cabinet at the left.
In secondary phases there arc many counterplays, such as the
bolt of cloth in the arms of the factory hand which balances the
leaning mass of the case behind him. and the play of the pro¬
tecting partition board between the foreground figures and the
loom. I he latter serves also to quiet and add weight to an
area that might otherwise have been too broken up.
Another touch in the design is the piece of white paper resting
on the top of the loom to bring the eye upward to the focal
center composed of the dark clothes of the central group and
the rich red fabric. The small figure of the laborer hauling up
the cotton bale is another one. for it brings into activity an
area that would otherwise be somewhat monotonous. The distant
building behind the bale of cotton integrates the bale into the
design and lets the eye flow down without too positive avsertion.
The painting is subtly and logically woven together, the implica¬
tion of mechanical force sensed in the ensemble rather than seen
separately.
The carefully thought out problems of this mural design led
me to a realization that a great analogy exists between industry
and art. There arc far more things involved in the expansion
of industry than the development of natural resources — it is a
vast utilization of the skills of the peoples. This is of vital im¬
portance in many profound ways. Every individual is an artist
at heart; though his skill may not always be utilized in the
making of a livelihood, in most eases it is. It is necessary to
the human spirit that each person manifest in some form the
skill of a great perfection.
An industrialist once described industry to me as the creation
of necessities. At the time this did not seem to cover really
important things, but now as I turn the phrase over in my mind
I realize that even artistic aspirations fall into this category. It
is only a matter of what one regards as necessity for on a
wider interpretation nothing can be exempt. Things that man
regards as necessities arc continually changing. To a primitive
culture the bow and arrow, crude textiles, and improvised
cooking utensils constitute necessities. In our culture the tele¬
phone. the automobile, cooling and heating systems, and count¬
less other refinements of living are regarded as necessities.
In Person Hall where I worked on this mural, I was sur¬
rounded by evidence of the earliest North Carolina industries
as unearthed from prehistoric Indian graves. There were ancient
textiles, implements of clay, arrowheads and spearheads— all rep¬
resenting industrial skill and expression. But aside from the
mystic aura of antiquity they left me cold. They were works of
sincere skill but they were primitive skills — the starved vistas of
those without horizons, without flexibility, frozen in the repeti¬
tion of harsh survival patterns.
In the vistas of these savage skills, there were few aspira¬
tions toward higher levels as evidence of great culture. Today’s
industries arc the plateaux that lead to new horizons. Each
discovery in science, each impetus in art or invention, becomes
a higher necessity of the nation and thence the world. Man
lifts himself ever higher by his own bootstraps.
Many of today's industries have come into existence within
the last generation, the results of basic research, and the great
possibilities of the future arc only beginning to be realized. Near
where these murals hang at the Institute of Government in
Chapel Hill, a great organization of basic research has been
founded. It is named The Research Triangle, and already scientific
departments of large industries arc at work with three surrounding
universities in an extensive program of research. The work is
dedicated to the principle of creating higher levels of necessity,
safety, and comfort for man. Its ever expanding vista is a far
cry from the primitive idea of security where only the simplest
survival patterns were fulfilled.
TTic time is approaching, with an ever accelerating speed when
the increasingly higher level of man’s necessities will bring the
great basic identity of matter, energy, and mind to the threshold
of the soul.
THE STATE. APRIL 2 8. 1962
