As allergic to ornamentation as mid-20th-century modernist architecture was, it did embrace one art form, the mosaic. Nearly any shopping mall constructed in the 1950s or 1960s had an abstract mosaic wall somewhere, usually near the fountain. Today in nearly every case both mosiac and fountain have been renovated away.
The mosaic in the Tory Science Building at Carleton University has survived perhaps because it is one of the oldest things at Carleton (the university was begun for the benefit of returning WWII servicemen), because it is just so huge, but probably because it stands out as one of the best and best preserved examples of its type.
The mosaic was unveiled in October 1962 after ten months' construction, and was considered such a striking piece of work that it was featured on the cover of the July/August 1963 issue of Canadian Art magazine. It was designed by Gerald Trottier and put together by the Connolly Marble, Mosaic and Tile Company of Toronto. Fittingly most of the artisans were Italian-Canadians. It measures 11 feet high by 168 long, wrapping around a circular lecture hall. The individual bits are made of marble or glass, so the colour has held fast. Only a few tesserae have gone missing. I'd expect the university has a pretty strict Post No Bills policy.
The theme of the piece is "the struggle of man to overcome his environment". In the early Sixties the Earth was considered something of an alien planet. Had the mosaic been designed more recently they would have been obliged to include man spinning the environment over his head and then body slamming it on the ground. The pre-Cycladic human figures must originally have suggested a choir of engineers, but now they seem invested with a kind of hip hop credibility.
Douglas
I've posted some close-ups here.
That could be called "My ball! I got it!!"
Posted by: Alan | 28 May 2009 at 05:20 PM