Tracy Montminy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tracy Montminy, who completed early works as Elizabeth Tracy, (1911–1992) was an American artist and muralist. During the
WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...
's era, she painted murals in civic buildings, including murals in the library in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
; the fire and police building of
Saugus, Massachusetts Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 28,619 at the 2020 census. Saugus is known as the site of the first integrated iron works in North America. History Native Americans ...
; the
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
post office; Medford, Massachusetts City Hall; the post office of
Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I- ...
; and the post office in
Kennebunkport, Maine Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford metropolitan statistical area. The town center, the are ...
, as well as others both in the U.S. and abroad. She was an art instructor at the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
and the American University of Beirut, continuing her own painting projects simultaneously with her teaching into the 1980s. Upon her death, she established a trust to create the Montminy Art Gallery in Columbia, Missouri.


Early life

Elizabeth Tracy was born on June 5, 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts. She began painting and drawing images for stories as a child and initially wanted to illustrate fashion designs. Her early education was in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
and her studies continued at Radcliffe College. Graduating with honors in Fine Arts in 1933, Tracy studied with the Italian painter
Rico Lebrun Rico (Federico) Lebrun (Naples, December 10, 1900 – Malibu, May 9, 1964) was an Italian-American painter and sculptor. Early life Lebrun was born in 1900 in Naples, Italy. He initially studied banking and journalism before taking art classes ...
at the Art Students League of New York between 1934 and 1935.


Career

In 1934, Tracy began working for the
Works Project Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...
(WPA) through the
Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...
(later called the
Section of Fine Arts The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...
). Murals in public buildings were intended to boost the morale of the American people from the effects of
the Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...
by depicting uplifting subjects. Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States. She initially worked as an assistant to other artists, working on the murals in the public library in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Cambridge library project included four murals, which Tracy completed with Arthur Willis Oakman. Tracy's first solo commission was a mural for the fire and police building of
Saugus, Massachusetts Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 28,619 at the 2020 census. Saugus is known as the site of the first integrated iron works in North America. History Native Americans ...
. She began work on ''The Founding of Saugus'' in 1935 in the courthouse of the police station. The mural depicted the early meeting of Native Americans and the English settlers who founded the town. When the police station was demolished, the mural was moved to the auditorium of the Saugus Town Hall. After completion of the Saugus mural, it is likely that she completed the mural for the Salinas y Rocha y Cia department store in Mexico City, since it was completed prior to her application for the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939. Tracy was selected to paint the mural for the
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
post office. The painting, ''The Suffolk Resolves: Oppression and Revolt in the Colonies'' adorns a wall in the office of the post service manager. Completed in 1938, it was restored by a conservator from Chicago in 2010, after storm damage to the post office. Following the project in Milton, Tracy began work on a mural at the Medford City Hall in Medford, Massachusetts. Her mural, located on the second floor in what is now the solicitor's office, was called ''Terror of the Wilderness''. The mural's theme depicts the trials colonists faced with images on the left representing plague victims and on the right showing nude natives attacking settlers. Completed in 1939, the nudity caused controversy when unveiled and it was discussed whether it should be painted over or preserved. After completion of the mural, Tracy was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to run from September 1, 1940 for one year. Tracy's next project was ''Chicago: Railroad Centre of the Nation'' in the post office of
Downers Grove, Illinois Downers Grove is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, whose surname serves as the eponym for the village. It is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The village is located between I-88 and I- ...
. The work is large, 6 feet x 13 feet and illustrates workers constructing the railroads and preparing to load mail onto boxcars at the train station. It was completed in 1940 and was designated by the Downers Grove Historical Society as a historical site in 2004. After completing the Illinois project, Tracy married Edmond Pierre Montminy (1907-1972) in 1941. By July of that year, she was working on a painting titled ''The Bathers'', for the post office in
Kennebunkport, Maine Kennebunkport is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,629 people at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford metropolitan statistical area. The town center, the are ...
, which centered on beach-goers and colorful umbrellas. As soon as she started painting, objections to the modernist style and subject matter surfaced from numerous prominent local citizens. A barrage of letters went back and forth between
Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
bureaucrats and Tracy, as well as the postmaster. Though she completed the mural, the citizens of Kennbunkport, led by Kenneth Roberts and
Booth Tarkington Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels '' The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1918) and '' Alice Adams'' (1921). He is one of only four novelists to win the Pulitz ...
, took up collection and raised enough funds to buy a replacement mural painted by Gordon Grant. The
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
agreed in March, 1945 to replace Tracy's mural at the post office, with Grant's. By the time she heard of the Senate's decision, her mural had been replaced and she and Pierre, who was working at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
, realized there was nothing they could do. Elizabeth Tracy legally changed her name to Tracy Montminy and in 1948, was hired at the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
(MU) to work on the faculty of the Art Department. She initially taught painting and drawing, but in 1976, a proposal to teach mural painting was approved. In the early 1960s, Montminy taught briefly at the American University of Beirut, returning to teach at MU afterward. Her last two murals were painted in 1977 for the Boone National Savings and Loan Association. Montminy continued teaching until 1981, and in 1990, made arrangements for her estate to fund the Montminy Gallery, which is currently maintained through a trust. Montminy died in 1992 and left her estate to the Boone County Historical Society (BCHS), in Columbia, Missouri. Posthumously, an exhibit entitled ''Painted Walls'' was hosted in March 2006 by the BCHS. A celebration in honor of Montiminy's 100th birthday, was held in 2011.


Gallery

The Montminy Art Gallery came to fruition on June 19, 1993, after Tracy Montminy's death. She bequeathed an endowment to the Boone County Historical Society to enable the BCHS to build a gallery to care for the couples works (murals, oil paintings, pen and ink drawings and sketches) as well as works of other artists from the surrounding area. Montminy's husband, Pierre had been an artist and served as chair of the art department at Stephens College prior to his death. The Montminy Gallery opened on April 24, 1994 and is open Wednesday through Sundays with free admission. When the museum was opened, the last two murals Montminy painted were moved to flank the entryway of the gallery.


Selected works

*1934-1935 "Religion" on the east wall of the delivery room of the Cambridge public library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. *1934-1935 "Fine Arts" on the west wall of the delivery room of the Cambridge public library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. *1934-1935 "History of Books and Paper" on the east wall of the reading room of the Cambridge public library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. *1934-1935 "The Development of the Printing Press" on the west wall of the delivery room of the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts. *1936 "The Founding of Saugus", Saugus Town Hall, Saugus, Massachusetts. *1937? Mural, Salinas y Rocha y Cia department store, Mexico City, Mexico *1938 "The Suffolk Resolves: Oppression and Revolt in the Colonies", post office, Milton, Massachusetts. *1938-1939 "Terror of the Wilderness:, City Hall, Medford, Massachusetts. *1940 "Chicago: Railroad Centre of the Nation", post office, Downers Grove, Illinois. *1941 "The Bathers", Kennebunkport, Maine. Presumed lost. Karal Ann Marling in her narrative of the controversy surrounding the painting stated that it was carefully removed and stored by the WPA, but other sources claim it was painted over. *1977 Downtown Columbia Missouri, two works, Montminy Art Gallery, Columbia, Missouri.


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montminy, Tracy 1911 births 1992 deaths Artists from Boston Artists from Columbia, Missouri Radcliffe College alumni American women academics American muralists Art Students League of New York alumni University of Missouri faculty Academic staff of the American University of Beirut People of the New Deal arts projects Burials at Columbia Cemetery (Columbia, Missouri) Women muralists 20th-century American women artists