The American Express Mural Cycles by Craig McPherson

From 1985 to 1992, Craig McPherson spent seven years working on two monumental mural projects commissioned by the American Express Company for their corporate headquarters at the World Financial Center (WFC) in Manhattan. These included Twilight: The Waterways and Bridges of Manhattan, a 90-foot mural cycle for the auditorium, painted in 1985-86, and Harbors of the World, a 318-foot cycle for the main lobby, completed over the next five years, 1987-92.

Independent curator and art historian, John Arthur, contributed these comments on the mural cycle after it was unveiled.

"For sheer bravura, sublime appropriateness, and true monumentality, Craig McPherson’s Harbors of the World must rank as one of the greatest contemporary achievements in public art."

Twilight: The Waterways and Bridges of Manhattan

The first mural cycle is composed of four paintings titled, Twilight: The Waterways and Bridges of Manhattan. The paintings include views of the Hudson River, Harlem River, East River and harbor. A chromatic scale transitioning across all four paintings, from a luminous pale yellow in the west to a deep saturated blue in the east, forms one continuous atmospheric band of light depicting a city dweller’s view during the evanescent time of twilight.

The four oil-on-linen paintings in the Twilight mural cycle are: The Hudson River, 6 x 35 feet; The Harlem River, 6 x 10 feet; The East River, 6 x 15 feet; and The Harbor, 7 x 30 feet.

Harbors of the World

The second commissioned series, titled Harbors of the World, is composed of ten oil-on-linen paintings over 11 feet high and 318 feet in length. It is on permanent view in the American Express Company’s mezzanine lobby. These paintings comprise one of the largest mural cycles in New York and the largest series of cityscapes in the U.S. The project involved working on site in New York, Venice, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro for 14 months, followed by four years of studio work in New York.

In the 1993 catalog for Craig McPherson’s one-man show following the installation of the harbor murals, John Arthur wrote this commentary.

"These gargantuan murals point out the fact that New York is a multicultural harbor city of immigrants, and they also serve as a reminder that we now exist in a global economy. While they are clearly symbolic and referential, McPherson’s panoramic views of New York, Venice, Istanbul, Sydney, Rio De Janeiro and Hong Kong also thematically represent the continents and seasons, and traverse both space and time… Perhaps the greatest strength of these murals is that the painter has managed to maintain the physical character and ambience of each of these legendary cities and instill each panorama with a sense of drama and mystery.

The review continues,

"Each of the six panoramic views is based on a schematic drawing executed to scale during a two-to-three month stay in each of the cities. In order to do the schematic drawings on site, McPherson devised a method of representing a broad radial view through his highly innovative use of a surveyor’s theodolite. Later, working over the grisaille under paintings, he avoided the major pitfalls of an anemic surface and impersonal rendering, by painstakingly building up a rich, chromatic surface of sanded, scraped and glazed layers of paint that achieves the richness of a fully realized easel painting. Importantly, he has also calculated for the eventual translucence and luminosity of the fully-aged oxidation of the oils."

In conclusion, Arthur writes,

"While he is a masterful draftsman and dazzling technician, an aspect that has been so vividly demonstrated in his mezzotints, paintings and murals, importantly, McPherson understands that such skills are no more than tools to employ in striving towards an image that is rich in substance and resources."
Like the printmaker Martin Lewis, he is attracted to the transformation of mundane urban incidents into heightened enigmas that occur by setting them in the dark ambiguities of night. And like Lewis, he is proven to be above all else a conjurer of ambience. From the smallest studies to his monumental murals, Craig McPherson’s extravagantly rendered views are cloaked in shadowy mysteries, and it is the lingering impressions of their moods that live in our memory."

The Harbors of the World mural cycle is composed of ten paintings: New York, February, Night, 11.3 x 42.6 feet, and Venice, April, Early Morning, 11.3 x 42.6 feet. These harbor views on the AmEx Tower’s north walls represent two of the northern hemisphere’s great trading and financial capitals, both historic and modern. A triptych of Istanbul and the Golden Horn on the east walls is composed of Istanbul, July, Mid-Morning, 11.3 x 51.8 feet, with two pendant panels illustrating interior views, Covered Bazaar and Haghia Sophia, Interior, both 11.3 x 10.8 feet. The mezzanine’s south walls face the high arch of the WFC Palm Court. These panels depict the southern hemisphere with one continuous elliptical curve linking Sydney, December, Early Afternoon, 11.3 x 42.6 feet and Rio de Janeiro, March, Later Afternoon, 11.3 x 42.6 feet. Finally, on the west walls representing Asia, a triptych of the Hong Kong harbor includes the steep diagonals of the Peak overlooking the South China Sea and the city’s glittering buildings, markets and ships. This group is composed of: Hong Kong, October, Twilight, 11.3 x 51.8 feet; Pottinger Street, 11.3 x 10.8 feet and The Shaplaeverett, both 11.3 x 10.8 feet.

Historical Note: McPherson Murals Survive 9/11

The global and historic significance of the Harbors of the World paintings has been made even more poignant by recent events. Following the first attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) in 1993, the American Express lobby was used as a triage center for the injured. On September 11, 2001 the North Tower of the WTC, directly across West Street from the American Express building, was once again attacked and fell into ruin. The force of the blast from the collapse of the North Tower blew in the windows and filled the AmEx lobby with dust and debris. The Harbor murals encircling the mezzanine took the force of the blast. For many months the paintings were encased in wet cement debris, while being exposed to the elements and the acrid smoke billowing from Ground Zero. Under such conditions it was unlikely that the murals would have survived.

Yet, they did, and relatively unscathed. The team of hazmat-suited conservators hired to do the final water cleaning commented afterwards, that the paintings’ remarkably fine condition could be attributed to McPherson's technical skill at producing an extremely tough paint film. No paint retouching was required.

At the time of the Harbor mural's creation, from 1988 - 1992, it would never have occurred to anyone that the American Express building or paintings might be in peril. Subsequent events have heightened the art’s historic value, particularly since the New York mural depicts the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in a panoramic view of lower Manhattan. The towers are shown in winter, at night, when a snow storm has obscured the upper portion of the buildings. Enveloped in a cloud of reflected street light, the Twin Towers are eerily reminiscent of images we are now so familiar with from 9/11.

McPherson's decision in 1987 to place the panels of Istanbul on the east walls, with mosques and minarets facing the Twin Towers, now seems ironic if not prescient. The Istanbul triptych was installed in 1989 over ten years before the attack on 9/11. It was conceived to depict a great harbor and city straddling Europe and Asia. Istanbul (Constantinople) was formerly the center of Roman, Byzantine and Turkish civilization, and it was an historic trade center on the Silk Route linking Islam and Christianity. Istanbul provides hope; it is a positive example of how intellectual and religious tolerance, along with dynamic trade, can be a boon to civilization. As a reflection of the richness of Istanbul’s history, the Istanbul painting glows with a luminous golden light.