Kermit Oliver murals

Title: Kermit Oliver murals
Description: This itemset features murals painted by Kermit Oliver on the walls of Texas Southern University's Hannah Hall. While most students painted just one mural as part of their undergraduate curriculum, Oliver painted 5 distinct murals in Hannah Hall. Three of those five murals have been digitized and are represented in this itemset; there is also a study for one of those three murals included here. The Hannah Hall murals are a collection of more than 80 student murals painted on the walls of Texas Southern University's second-oldest building. Ranging in time from 1951 to 2013, the murals cover a wide variety of subjects, including the Civil Rights Movement, Black power, religion, rural life in Texas, fantasy, and more. The mural program was created by Dr. John T. Biggers, founder of Texas Southern's art department.
Curated By: Ben Schachter
Contributing Institution: Texas Southern University
Identifier: HCAC.TSU.IS.020
Rights: All rights held by the University Museum at Texas Southern. For permission to publish, distribute, or use this image for any other purpose, please contact University Museum, Texas Southern University umuseum@gmail.com Attn: Museum Director. Materials not created by Texas Southern University may still be under copyright. Additional materials may be presented for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law.
About This Record: The HCAC public history focused digital archive cataloging is an ongoing process, and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. We welcome your comments and feedback if you have more information to share about an item featured on the site, please contact us at: HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu

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Struggle in Red
Oliver's mural reflects his classical painting style in a composition that shows Black men struggling to lift up an imposing weight above them, represented by the closed window on the wall. The mural appears to have been painted over an older design, as can be seen in the lower right section.
Mural Study for Man Looking Upwards
Oliver’s drawing is of a man looking upwards. This is a pre-sketch for a mural in Hannah Hall, which has a matching version with a woman and child. Oliver would find small spaces between other students’ murals and fill in the gaps with his own compositions. As a result, Oliver painted 6 murals in the building; no other student artist painted more than 2.
Faces Looking Upward
The graphic strength of Oliver's portraits is clearly evident in these two panels. By limiting his palette to black and white, the artist underscores the powerful gazes of the figures. Because of his enthusiasm and talent, Oliver was allowed to create additional murals when empty spaces were available.
Devastation
This is a universal scene of the despair and struggle facing a group determined to survive. The lone tree in the moonlight starkly symbolizes the darkness surrounding the scene (center left panel), while the tree rising from a swamp (leftmost panel) suggests hope with the bird, butterfly, and waterlily indicating transformative beauty.