Skagit County’s Mural Mysteries By Bret Lunsford

Skagit County’s Mural Mysteries

By Bret Lunsford

News of Skagit County’s mural mystery has gone national, and television crews have been thick
at the fairgrounds, reporting on the signed 1941 William Cumming painting, that was recently
found in a Breckenridge barn and is now valued at half a million dollars. No one was sure
whether the painting was originally commissioned for display in Skagit County – possibly as part
of the WPA or other New Deal program from the Great Depression era – or where it was
exhibited. Charlotte Breckenridge – whose family’s barns stored the mural for decades –
wondered if her late husband, Edward, may have salvaged it from the old Edison School, where
he was once a teacher of science, math and art. “It may have been cluttering up the art room, and
so (Principal) Costani told him to ‘take that thing home.’” It moved from barn to barn in the
Breckenridge family until Tony Breckenridge brought it to this year’s Skagit County Fair, where
Parks Director Brian Adams immediately recognized it for something special.

Mrs. Breckenridge’s school clue led to research of old newspapers in the Skagit Valley Herald’s
archives and the “discovery” that the William Cumming mural was painted – as part of the
National Youth Administration (NYA) program – for Burlington High School’s new “Farm
Shop” which was dedicated in a public ceremony on October 29, 1941. “This mural was planned
last year and criticized for detail by the high school art class. This original miniature was then
sent to Seattle where Bill Cummings (sic), a young NYA artist, has been diligently working for
six months,” the Burlington Journal reported:

The mural will be a long canvas painting six feet high by 32 feet long briefly depicting
Burlington community history. It starts on the extreme left with early logging scenes, and
advances into the era when the railroads were built, and then going farther right carries us
into the present period of farming, berry growing and dairying.

Multiple stories appeared in the county’s newspapers of the day, covering the dedication
festivities which included “an explanatory talk by William Cumming,” performances by the high
school band, tours of the new facility, and a speech by Pearl Wannamaker, State School
Superintendent, who stated: “I believe that Burlington’s new farm shop typifies America.” The
Mount Vernon Argus reported that “very fortunate and advantageous state and federal grants
together with Burlington contributions have made the Farm Shop possible without increased cost
to local taxpayers;” part of these funds included $4,956 from the N.Y.A.

The mural’s existence came as a surprise to Cumming’s friend and art representative, John
Braseth, who suggested that Cumming wouldn’t have taken on a painting of this size – 6 feet by
27 feet - speculatively. Cumming was part of Federal Art Project in Seattle in that era – where he
worked alongside Mark Tobey and Morris Graves. While Cumming was working on the
Burlington mural, he was also preparing for his 1941 solo exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. An
oral history interview with Cumming was conducted in 1965 about “getting on the Federal Art
Project; meeting Morris Graves; problems with the way the project was administered and
supervised; destruction of some of the art work produced by the project; his feelings about
federal support for the arts; his existential philosophy on life; and his views on current trends in

painting.” The full transcript of this interview may provide more detail about this newly
discovered mural.
There are three New Deal era murals currently exhibited in Skagit County, and the 1938 “Local
Pursuits” mural by Ambrose Patterson at the old Mount Vernon post office bears a thematic
resemblance to the Cumming mural. The social-realist style is also present in the Albert Runquist
mural of “Loggers and Millworkers” in Sedro-Woolley. Perhaps the most valuable of all of these
is the “Fishing” mural painted for the Anacortes Post Office by Kenneth Callahan in 1940. Both
Kenneth Callahan and his wife Margaret were friends and mentors of the young William
Cumming, offering support, criticism, and connections to the art world; it is conceivable that the
Callahans had a hand in advising Cumming on mural work. “What (Margaret) was to me was my
sensei,” Cumming wrote in his Sketchbook memoir, “who gave me a hand-up or a box on the ear
or a handclasp or a kick in the ass.”

Through the nurturing of Ken and Margaret, their joyous conjoining of the spectrum of
world-art with the direct experiential awareness of the here and now of our Northwest, I
was brought to the edge of what would be my art.

The Burlington Journal photograph courtesy of Skagit Publishing

How was the art from these now-famous painters received by people in Skagit County in the late
thirties? The Kenneth Callahan mural of a salmon purse-seine boat was controversial at the time
of its installation, at least with the local postmaster, Gus Dalstead, who wrote to the federal
administrators to complain that “The community is very much opposed to some of the types of
murals installed in this county.” The Anacortes mural might also have ended up in a barn or in
shreds when 1960s renovation work threatened to destroy it, were it not for a “Save the
Callahan” community effort led by artist Max Benjamin, newsman Wallie Funk, and many
others.

The route to saving the Cumming was long-delayed and fraught with numerous threats, trod on
by dog paws and used as a firewood tarp. “Between me and my brothers, we tried everything in
the world to throw it out,” Tony Breckenridge told the Skagit Valley Herald.

Is it fair to wonder: did the painting have a will to live? While the world speculates on the twists
and turns of this story, Skagitonians can take a trip to visit the other local murals of the era. The
Anacortes Museum’s new exhibit “All in the Same Boat: The Great Depression in Anacortes”
provides more information on how our parents and grandparents weathered these difficult years.

Pearl Wannamaker’s speech about the Burlington Farm Shop is also applicable to the mural
being dedicated: “It represents working with one’s hands, an element that has been so important
to this country, as the pioneers carved out the destiny of the land in its wilderness.” This point is
amplified by Eleanor Mahoney, New Deal historian at the University of Washington: “These
American Scene-inspired works valorized local history, folklore and industry, presenting a
relatable, if at-times romanticized, view of life in the United States.” But we should leave the last
word to Cumming himself:

“Unbeknownst to us in the late thirties, as we stealthily stole silly down streets we
thought to be secret, other minds than ours were readying the typewriters and the fonts of
type and the reams of creamy book paper for the day when someone would announce the
advent of the Northwest School, discover the Mystic Four, pontificate on the influence of
the Japan Current and our soggy weather. And it’s all true. It’s also all untrue.”

Sources:

SKETCHBOOK: A Memoir of the 1930s and the Northwest School by William Cumming

ANACORTES MUSEUM: http://www.cityofanacortes.org/current_exhibits.php#.U_Khcl_n_4Y

THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN WASHINGTON STATE:
http://depts.washington.edu/depress/culture_arts.shtml

LIVING NEW DEAL: http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/

SKAGIT VALLEY HERALD ARTICLES & ARCHIVES

All newspaper images appear courtesy of Skagit Publishing

Anacortes Museum – 1305 8th Street, Anacortes, WA 98221 – (360) 293-1915
[email protected] http://www.cityofanacortes.org/museum_department.php