Brownsville historian: Jacob Brown mural to be digitally rescued
Mar. 2—A digital reproduction of the iconic 1953 mural on the back wall of the Jacob Brown Auditorium will appear in its exact original location as part of a project to bring the Jacob Brown up to OSHA and EPA requirements, Brownsville historian Eugene Fernandez said Thursday.
The mural's whereabouts had come into question after guests at Noche Mexicana this past Saturday during Charro Days noticed the iconic painting appeared to have been covered up, and a few reported the observation to Eugene Fernandez, director of the South Texas Center for Historical & Genealogical Research based in Brownsville.
Fernandez said the 24-foot by 15-foot mural was commissioned by the City of Brownsville to the artist Roy Keister in 1953, when the Fort Brown Memorial Complex was built. Keister had a national reputation and had retired to Weslaco.
Keister's pieces in the present-day art market sell in the $3,000 range for a 20-inch by 15-inch painting.
"Some are in to the $10,000 range. I could just imagine what a 24-foot by 15-foot piece would go for," Fernandez said Thursday, observing that restoration of such a piece could cost in the neighborhood of $150,000 if not more.
At a meeting Thursday morning with Texas Southmost College President Jesus Roberto Rodriguez, Fernandez said he learned the mural is being sheltered in place and covered over with drywall on a frame of 2 by 4s.
In a PowerPoint presentation at their meeting, Fernandez said Rodriguez provided these details:
— Since the original artwork had been glued to a plywood backing at origin, no manner of removing it for intensive restoration was possible.
— A 2 by 4 stud frame was erected over the mural, minimally touching the canvas surface.
— Drywall was then attached over the outside of the frame to "encapsulate" the piece.
— Electrical junction boxes were placed on the studs, not effecting the artwork.
— High resolution photos were taken of every square inch of the piece and sent off to a digital imaging specialty company for enhancement.
— A large LED display screen will be mounted to the size of the original frame boundaries of the mural. The enhanced image will then be available on demand. At other times, this screen will serve an audio-visual function, since the auditorium had no modern-day provisions for such equipment.
Fernandez said in the 70 years since its creation, the mural had undergone a significant degree of flaking, cracking, and discoloration, as well as some punctures and rips.
The enhanced photos of every square inch of the painting will, in effect, bring it back to life, he said.
Meanwhile, the painting will be preserved beneath the drywall sheath surrounding it, in the hope that sometime in the future, when and if the technology becomes available, it might be physically restored.
The tentative timeline for a the mural's digital debut is in May, in time for TSC graduation ceremonies.
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