But before that, he was hired to help paint murals for the Cambridge, Mass., headquarters of the Lever Brothers Co. — a small soap manufacturer better know today by its parent company Unilever.
The scenes depicted in the murals give no hint at the struggles in Depression-era Boston, instead showing sharply dressed Harvard students lounging on the banks of the Charles River and ladies wearing fur coats as they sing Christmas carols, according to a recent article about the artwork in The Boston Globe.
In the early 1950s, MIT bought the Lever Brothers building and then removed the murals in 2013 as part of a major renovation. The university tried to find a new owner for the artworks, but failed to find any local takers, according to Joan Whitlow, a collections manager at the MIT Museum.
Whitlow said the murals aren’t considered important works of art, but she always thought that McCloskey’s hometown might be interested in them.
So she reached out to Hamilton officials.
“At the time, they didn’t quite feel that they could be responsible for them,” Whitlow told the Journal-News, noting the poor condition each one of 14-foot by 11-foot panels had fallen into.
But Hamilton City Manager Joshua Smith did not want to give up on the project, and has presented a resolution to council that would bring the murals to Hamilton.
In order to cover the costs involved in transporting and restoring the murals, Smith has been working with the Hamilton Community Foundation, the City of Sculpture organization and private donors to create a $100,000 fund.
That money, Smith said, will put the murals in better condition and allow them to be displayed in “prominent locations” around the city.
The deal is not yet finalized, but Smith said he hopes to have more information after meeting with those interested in supporting the project.
Whitlow said it makes sense to have the murals transported to Hamilton and then have the restoration done once they arrive in the city.
A group of artists, led by Stephen Smith, completed this summer a large mural dedicated to McCloskey at 20 High St.
McCloskey is “one of the great sons of Hamilton, and leaves an indelible mark on the history of this city, and also the architectural and cultural makeup of this city,” said Ian McKenzie-Thurley, executive director of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts.
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