By Cynthia Smith
Many
architects in the late 1800s to mid-1990s designed U.S. public buildings in the
American Renaissance style, inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Glenn
Liston King, a “renaissance woman” in her own right, has recently completed a
beautiful book detailing the murals that adorn many of these buildings, painted
by her grandfather, Vincent Aderente.
Glenn, who
has lived on Ritchie Avenue since 1965, is an artist, writer, actor, singer,
mother of five, and grandmother of eight.
You could
also call her a detective, because it took years of painstaking work to find
and document hundreds of the murals, WWI posters, Baby Bond designs, portraits,
bank note designs, magazine illustrations, and advertisements created by
Aderente.
You don’t
have to go far to see one of the pieces featured in Glenn’s book, entitled Vincent
Aderente, American Muralist. A mural named Cross of Angels hangs at
St. James of the Valley church on Springfield Pike.
 |
| Muralist Vincent Aderente was born in 1880. |
From
Child Prodigy to Master Muralist
Aderente,
born in Italy in 1880, came to the United States with his family in 1889. At
the public schools of Jersey City, New Jersey, he was soon recognized as a
child prodigy, and began studying at the Metropolitan School of Art.
He later
attended the New York Art Students League, where he won all four of the group’s
prizes in one year. After graduating from the National Academy of Design in New
York City in 1897, he became an assistant to one of the greatest muralists of
the time, Edwin Howland Blashfield, with whom he continued to work for the next
31 years.
Aderente
married Grace DiMartino from Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1909, and they had two
children, Olga (Glenn’s mother) and Vincent Carl.
By 1916,
he was a member of the National Society of Mural Painters, in demand for his
own commissions.
While many
of Aderente’s murals in courthouses, state capitols, cathedrals, post offices,
hospitals, and other public buildings in nineteen states have been lost to
renovations, neglect, and even theft, Glenn has preserved over 200 for
posterity in her glossy 170-page book, which features full-page color photos of
the art, accompanied by interesting and often entertaining descriptions.
Aderente
died at age 61, presumably poisoned over time by the lead in his oil paints.
“While he cleaned his brushes well, he would often lick the ends to make a fine
point,” explains Glenn. “There was probably paint residue on the brushes,
which, over time, took his life.” Glenn was six when Aderente passed away, but
she has fond memories of visiting his studio, playing with the costumes he
designed for artists’ balls, and occasionally posing for figures in his murals.
 |
| Glenn posing for a mural for her grandfather. |
American
History, Values, and Religion Writ Large
What’s
pictured in the murals, as large as 26’ x 50’, are images recording history,
and celebrating the best of human endeavors, no doubt meant to inspire viewers
to reach their own highest heights:
1. Many
use motifs from the past to symbolize American values such as nationalism,
capitalism, honesty, resourcefulness, and imagination;
2. Female
figures in flowing robes personify characteristics such as Wisdom, Charity,
Thrift, Fortitude, Knowledge, Power, Justice, Mercy, and Enlightenment;
3. Human
activities such as Electricity, Commerce, Mining, Science, Poetry, Prose,
Music, Graphic Arts, Learning, Industry, and Physical Development are
frequently included;
4. Events
such as the Westward Expansion, Washington Surrendering His Commission, The
Landing of Father Marquette on the Shores of Lake Michigan, The Battle of
Corinth during the Civil War, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg address are pictured in
others; and
5. Angels are seen in many of the works.
 |
| Aderente’s mural titled Constitutional Law is at the Queens General Courthouse in Jamaica,N ew York. |
To browse
through Glenn’s book is to travel through time. You will meet the visionaries
who built communities such as Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Flushing, New
York; stroll along the streets of New York City in 1827; learn about the life
of Joan of Arc; and see historic figures such as Thomas Jefferson, James
Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, along with Supreme Court justices, saints, and
leaders of Native American nations.
While the
breadth of subjects covered in the murals is extensive, the fine details,
beautiful figures, and special color palette that set Aderente’s work apart are
consistent throughout.
Where
to Find Them
The murals
can be seen in buildings accessible to the public from New York to Utah. Here
are some in good condition:
• Denver, Colorado, in the Public Mint:
Commerce, Mining, and Manufacturing
• Atlanta, Georgia, at St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church: The Good Shepherd
• Chicago,
Illinois, at the Union League Club (Patria) and the Elks National
Veterans Memorial (Fraternal Justice, Fraternity, and Charity)
• Bloomington, Indiana in the Student
Union: Alma Mater
• Des Moines, Iowa, in the State
Capitol: Westward
• Baltimore,
Maryland, in the Mitchell Courthouse: Washington Surrendering His Commission
and Religious Tolerance
• Cambridge,
Massachusetts, at MIT: Alma Mater, Ye Shall Be As Gods and Humanity
• Boston,
Massachusetts, at The Boston Opera House: (ceiling and proscenium murals show
angels with musical instruments and writing implements)
• Detroit,
Michigan in the Public Library: The Joining of the Ways, Poetry, Prose,
Music, and Graphic Arts
Making
the Book
The book
began with documenting Aderente’s work for the Smithsonian American Art Museum,
which took ten years. The museum’s archivists encouraged Glenn to share the
information through a pictorial book. She compares searching out the murals and
writing about them to uncovering surprises under the Christmas tree. “It was
definitely a labor of love,” she says, “but one I am proud to have completed.
It allowed me to honor his memory and let the world see the amazing body of
work he left behind.”
Glenn
started with a pile of sketches and photos her grandmother had saved. Aderente
had left a written list of some 30 of his over-200 works, but it was often
challenging to match them to the unlabeled images. One mural at a time, she
reached out to possible contacts to gather photos and information.
 |
| Glenn’s surviving daughters, left to right: Jeannine, Christienne, Germaine, and Sabrina. |
Here’s
an example of the process:
“Most of
the murals I found were in the upper United States, except one in the Orlando
Courthouse. That drew my interest and became my first call. No one had ever
mentioned that he had done work in Florida.
“I
discovered that a new courthouse had been built, but the original courthouse
had become an historic museum, and had most of its original murals. Tana
Porter, who answered my call, was noticeably upset when she heard who I was,
and regretted telling me that the mural my grandfather had done in one of the
old courtrooms was lost in an accidental electrical fire not long after having
been restored.
“Fortunately,
photos had been taken following the restoration, so Porter sent those and news
articles defining the circumstances.
“I will
never forget her parting words: ‘We are a relatively new community, not like
Philadelphia or Boston; everything is new here. We need to cherish and treat
our history and heritage with respect, for that will give us character and
define who we are. We all miss Mr. Aderente’s mural.’”
Glenn
spent over 200 hours on the phone, did countless computer searches, and also
found people with information through art websites. Her journey logged
thousands of miles to see murals in person and led to new friendships all over
the country.
Some
murals were impossible to document; they had never been photographed, or the
murals and any photos of them had been lost. Four murals were simply missing,
either stolen or mysteriously disappeared. Much information came from a book
about Blashfield written by Blashfield’s wife Grace (Hall) in 1937. Some of
Glenn’s cousins, who live in Michigan and Chicago, also helped by taking
pictures of murals nearby.
Just when
Glenn thought she had found all the murals, she would hear about another. “The
process was like peeling an onion,” she laughs.
Funding
the project herself, Glenn hired Howard Wells, whom she met at University of Cincinnati’s
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), to edit, and local graphic designer
Jennie Hefren to design the book.
 |
| Cross of Angels is the Aderente mural at St. James of the Valley in Wyoming. |
Not her
First Rodeo
Vincent
Aderente, American Muralist
is not Glenn’s first book. She illustrated seven books about safety for
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, which the hospital has
distributed nationally, and has written over 300 short stories, six of which
have been published by the University of Cincinnati.
She
decided to finish the book after her daughters were grown and her husband,
Edward, passed away in 2015. “There was an uptick in interest in murals,” she
says, “and I finally had the time to do it.”
The Kings
moved to Wyoming in 1965 after living in Dallas, Cincinnati, and Sacramento. The
permanent return to Cincinnati was for Edward’s job with P&G. They had five
daughters, four of whom graduated from Wyoming High School. Their oldest,
Adrienne, passed away at age 33.
The
youngest daughter, Christienne, still lives in Wyoming on Oliver Road, with her
husband, Cy Wilson, and son, AJ, who is a student at Vermont Primary School.
“We wanted
good schools for the children,” remembers Glenn, ”and a smaller community.
There were lots of P&G people here who recommended Wyoming. At first we
lived in College Hill while Edward built our house on Ritchie.”
Memories
of Wyoming
Glenn has
fond memories of Wyoming when the girls, Adrienne, Jeannine, Germaine, Sabrina,
and Christienne were growing up. “We always had a houseful of children, because
each girl brought her friends here to play,” she says.
“We
belonged to the Wyoming Swim Club, where I served on the board.” Glenn was also
a room mother, was involved extensively in PSA, and was named Citizen of the
Year in 1988. “I was always volunteering,” she recalls. Among other local art
projects, Glenn created the logos for the Wyoming HS Alumni Association and the
Cincinnati Civic Garden Center.
The girls
went to Vermont Primary School. Two were cheerleaders, and all were in involved
in swimming, field hockey, basketball, baseball, and soccer.
Glenn now
has eight grandchildren: one in Wyoming, two in West Chester, three in
Michigan, and two in St. Louis.
 |
| This Aderente painting was an advertisement for Baby Bonds, which were small denomination saving bonds with face values from $75 to $1,000 issued by the U.S. government from 1935 to 1941. |
Inherited
and Cultivated Talent
Following
in Aderente’s footsteps, Glenn studied graphic art and sculpture, then became a
graphic artist, first working as a draftsman for an oil company in Houston, and
later freelancing. As an army brat, she lived in 15 of the United States, and Germany
and Switzerland as a child. She speaks fluent French, studied sculpture at the
L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, and murals at the Ciudad Universitaria in
Mexico City. She modeled while living in Paris and for a time after college in
Houston.
Glenn also
sings, acts, and teaches. “I had sung with my sorority in college, then took
lessons after joining the St. James choir in my 50s,” she says. “Their choir
director suggested I audition for the musical Carousel with a community
theatre group.
“After Carousel,
I continued doing community theatre for 20 years, mostly with the Cincinnati
Music Theatre Company. The director of Carousel and I became good
friends; we still meet at Gabby’s once a month to catch up. I also sang in the
Scottish Rite choir at The Masonic Temple downtown. It was the only Masonic
choir in the country that included women at that time.”
Today,
Glenn runs an entertainment group of 10 singers called The Martinaires, which
does two-three shows a month, and more at Christmas for local community groups
and retirement homes. She also teaches art and karaoke singing at OLLI. Glenn
shows no signs of slowing down. I was lucky to catch her for this interview
between trips to Maine and Europe!
Book
Signing at Gabby’s
King will
be doing signings of Vincent Aderente. Watch for news of one coming soon.
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