Julian Abele

Julian Abele by artist Michael Webb was located in the Southwest Center City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For this mural, Webb wove together historical figures, elements of blueprints, and architectural images to create a tribute to this noted Philadelphia architect. Julian Abele was the first African American student to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Architecture. He enjoyed an illustrious career with a permanent Philadelphia firm and many buildings bear his stamp. These include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library’s Parkway Central branch, and Penn’s Irvine Auditorium for which he was the chief designer while working for Horace Trumbauer.

The mural uses three modes of representation: architectural blueprints; a simplified “posterized” image of classical architecture; and a more naturalistic representation of Julian Abele and other figures representing the professions that support the work of the architect. Three images are presented in the form of blueprints. They include a partial “section view” of the Free Library of Philadelphia, an image of the tower of the Duke University Chapel (rising above Julian Abele’s figure in the center of the design, and a partial image of the statues on one of the pediments of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The “posterized “ image is of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) under construction, taken from an early photograph from the museum’s archives. Julian Abele is flanked by Horace Trumbauer, owner of the firm employing Abele in the most significant years of his career. Other figures represent a draftsman, a secretary, members of the building trades, and a sculptor. The sculpture that is being worked on is part of a figure group intended for a second pediment of the art museum. The reference for this figure also came from the PMA’s archives.

Blueprints, architectural images and figures are layered to establish the overall composition of the mural. The idea of using blueprint imagery to represent Abele’s architecture rather than standard paintings of his buildings came from a community member at a Mural Arts planning meeting.

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (covered by new construction ca. 2016).