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Study for Mural at U.S. Custom House, Cleveland, OH, "Passing Commerce Pays Tribute to the Port of Cleveland"

Kenyon Cox

1909

Study for Mural at U.S. Custom House, Cleveland, OH, "Passing Commerce Pays Tribute to the Port of Cleveland" by Kenyon Cox

Medium

Painting

Classification

Painting

Department

Smithsonian Collection

Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Credit

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Ambrose Lansing

Accession Number

1983.114.5

Tags

transportationClevelandFigure groupClevelandStudy

About this artwork

This study shows Kenyon Cox’s plan for a mural above the fireplace in the office of Cleveland’s Collector of Customs. Cox chose an allegorical scene to represent the city’s booming economy. Mercury, god of commerce, drops golden coins into the lap of an allegorical figure of Cleveland, shown as an idealized woman. Cox used a grid system to translate the image onto a much larger canvas, which would be installed in an elaborately carved frame on the wall. He decided on a color scheme to matc...

About the Artist

Kenyon Cox · 1856–1919

Kenyon Cox (1856–1919) was born on October 27 in Warren, Ohio, to General Jacob Dolson Cox, a prominent politician and Civil War veteran, and Helen Finney Cox. Despite fragile health, young Cox pursued art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before advancing to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1877, he traveled to Paris, studying first under Carolus-Duran, then at the Éco...

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