When Beal was commissioned to create the pair of murals for the IRT Mezzanine, he decided to was to depict a modern interpretation of the Greek myth about Persephone, queen of the underworld. The artist posed his friends, created an oil painting and shipped it off to Italy where it was fabricated into a 200 lb glass mosaic. The entire process took about 10 years and was installed three days after September 11th. Considered a symbol of hope, Beal was subsequently commissioned to create a companion mural, The Onset of Winter. In this update of the ancient story, Persephone fulfills her agreement to return to the underworld, thus signaling the start of the autumn and winter seasons. She "twists in agony at the top of the stairs, knowing that she must go but wishing that she could stay," explains the artist. "The event is being filmed with a group of spectators, who certainly would have materialized." Again Beal posed his friends for the artwork including his dog Scoo2er.
The theme of The Return of Spring is Persephone returning from the underground. The setting is a contemporary view of Times Square showing a crowded sidewalk and a construction crew working by a subway entrance. Among the pedestrians is Persephone, as a girl emerging from the entrance carrying a bouquet of lilies (the model is the printmaker Joe Wilfer’s daughter, Anne - Joe appears as one of the workmen). Others in the crowd include architect Malcolm Holzman as Dante, and the artist Sondra Freckelton (the artist’s wife) as Flora, goddess of flowers. The artist himself appears as Poseidon, god of earthquakes, in the guise of a workman wielding a jackhammer (“Jack” hammer).
References to Divine Comedy, the iconic Renaissance era poem by Dante Alighieri
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M. Stephen Doherty
Pictured: The Onset of Winter
Jack Beal
Pictured: The theme of The Return of Spring is Persephone returning from the underground. The setting is a contemporary view of Times Square showing a crowded sidewalk and a construction crew working by a subway entrance. Among the pedestrians is Persephone, as a girl emerging from the entrance carrying a bouquet of lilies (the model is the printmaker Joe Wilfer’s daughter, Anne - Joe appears as one of the workmen). Others in the crowd include architect Malcolm Holzman as Dante, and the artist Sondra Freckelton (the artist’s wife) as Flora, goddess of flowers. The artist himself appears as Poseidon, god of earthquakes, in the guise of a workman wielding a jackhammer (“Jack” hammer).
Malcolm Holzman FAIA
Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates
Pictured: The theme of The Return of Spring is Persephone returning from the underground. The setting is a contemporary view of Times Square showing a crowded sidewalk and a construction crew working by a subway entrance. Among the pedestrians is Persephone, as a girl emerging from the entrance carrying a bouquet of lilies (the model is the printmaker Joe Wilfer’s daughter, Anne - Joe appears as one of the workmen). Others in the crowd include architect Malcolm Holzman as Dante, and the artist Sondra Freckelton (the artist’s wife) as Flora, goddess of flowers. The artist himself appears as Poseidon, god of earthquakes, in the guise of a workman wielding a jackhammer (“Jack” hammer).
Sondra Freckelton
Pictured: The theme of The Return of Spring is Persephone returning from the underground. The setting is a contemporary view of Times Square showing a crowded sidewalk and a construction crew working by a subway entrance. Among the pedestrians is Persephone, as a girl emerging from the entrance carrying a bouquet of lilies (the model is the printmaker Joe Wilfer’s daughter, Anne - Joe appears as one of the workmen). Others in the crowd include architect Malcolm Holzman as Dante, and the artist Sondra Freckelton (the artist’s wife) as Flora, goddess of flowers. The artist himself appears as Poseidon, god of earthquakes, in the guise of a workman wielding a jackhammer (“Jack” hammer).