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Benedict Arnold Triumphant at Saratoga

oil on canvas, 7'6" x 27', George Gray 1937

George Gray was a well-known American artist in 1937 when he was commissioned to paint a series of murals depicting dramatic moments in Fort Ontario's history . These large murals were installed in Oswego's Pontiac Hotel, and rescued from likely destruction by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Lombardo and Mr. and Mrs. John Vivenzio when the hotel was sold several decades later.

The murals, which measure well over 6 feet in height, were generously donated to the H. Lee White Marine Museum by the Lombardos and Vivenzios. One of several striking aspects of the murals is that because of their size, many of the figures represented in them, such as the British officer and at left below and the American frontiersman at right, are nearly life-size.

Born in Harrisburg, PA in 1907, George Gray served as combat artist for the US Coast Guard during World War II...then later as staff artist for the US Infantry Journal, US Cavalry Journal and the National Guardsman.

At the other end of the scale, these George Gray murals also include a number of subtly rendered small details of North American woodland life - here a chipmunk, there a butterfly or flowers - included as part of large, sweeping scenes of historical drama.

         

George Gray based his murals on - and was inspired by - the 1936 historical novel "Northwest Passage" by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Kenneth Roberts. Indeed, Gray was in communication with Roberts during the course of executing the Pontiac Hotel murals, and induced the author to write captions for those parts of the mural depicting scenes from "Northwest Passage" - captions which the artist rendered in large, flowing calligraphic script.

 

Please browse at your leisure among the various details from the George Gray murals shown below:

Hessian soldiers fire at Benedict Arnold's troops from behind breastworks at the Battle of Saratoga.

These figures in the actual mural are nearly life-size.

 A seaman oversees the firing of a ship's cannon in Gray's depiction of "Arnold's Flagship at Valcour - October 11, 1776"

This vignette, found rolled up inside the much larger "Benedict Arnold Triumphant at Saratoga," (which it was intended to be part of) was originally done for a hotel in Troy, NY, as part of artist George Gray's "Niagara Frontier" series.

 

 Beneath an unfurling American flag, an American soldier tends a wounded comrade in Gray's depiction of some of the fighting in the Boxer Rebellion in China. This detail is from a large panel that depicts Colonel Liscum at the Battle of Tientsin on July 13, 1900, when he seized the regimental standard from a wounded color sergeant and issued what would be his last order, "Keep up the fire!"

"Keep up the fire!" has since been the motto of the U.S. Army 9th Infantry.

Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa, who met with Sir William Johnson, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for British North America, under the guns of historic Fort Ontario in Oswego during the summer of 1766.

This conference effectively ended the troublesome so-called "Pontiac's Rebellion," an uprising of various Native American nations, under the inspired leadership of the great Ottawa chief, against British claims to rule of the North American interior.

 

 

 

In addition to the George Gray murals on the first floor, the H. Lee White Marine Museum also owns and displays a surprisingly wide range of other, smaller works of art in oils, watercolors and pen & ink by various artists, noted and unknown.

unknown commercial artist, packaging for Kingsford's Corn Starch. Kingsford's was a very successful enterprise in 19th century Oswego, NY.

3 early 19th century boatmen depicted by Frank Kraft (b. 1919, graduate of Syracuse University College of Fine Arts, 1947). Mr. Kraft, who has exhibited at venues including the Everson Museum, the Springfield Museum of Fine Arts and the 1000 Islands Museum, did a series of watercolors for the H. Lee White Marine Museum which required a year's worth of research in Canada and the United States.

Several seascapes by Albert Adams, including the one shown to the left, feature the Oswego Harbor.  Adams' style ranged from detailed pencil drawings to abstract oils such as this.

This photo of the "Oriole" is one of many beautiful photos from the Oswego Yacht Club.

Photographic artists, known and unknown, are displayed throughout the Museum.

 

Dragoon, Col. Elisha Sheldon's 2nd Regiment, Continental Light Dragoons 1779-1783

Watercolor & ink by P. M. Stapler

Pompton Historic Publications 1968

The Museum owns and displays several of Stapler's works.

 Early painting attributed to James Gale Tyler (1865-1931) famed American nautical artist who was born in Oswego and after whom the State University of New York at Oswego's arts center - Tyler Hall - is named.

 

The Museum owns and displays a second small seascape attributed to Tyler.

Several of the H. Lee White Marine Museum's original paintings have been reproduced in print form and are available in the museum gift shop.

Art students/historians wishing to study the original artwork are encouraged to call the museum at 315-342-0480 to arrange an appointment.

 

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