The Art of Richard Cramer: Chapter 3

A Mosaic Brightens Broad Street
When Temple University in Philadelphia wanted to engage artists for a campus improvement program, they turned to Richard Cramer, Professor of Painting at their Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

For Temple's Centennial Challenge project, Richard designed a mosaic which was installed at the Student/Faculty Center on the Health Sciences Campus at the corner of Broad and Ontario Streets. "Palisade," a 12 by 19 foot glass mosaic, was completed in 1981. The mosaic was fabricated by Crovatto Mosaics of Yonkers, New York.

The mosaic tiles, or tesseraes, are small blocks of colored, opaque glass manufactured in Italy in a town near Venice.  Costante Crovatto, a master craftsman, came to New York from Italy to oversee the business. They typically made and installed 12 mosaics a year, mostly for churches, but also for well-known artists like Romare Bearden, Roger Brown and Jack Beal.

Richard choosing colors for the mosaic at
 the Crovatto workshop in Yonkers.

When we arrived, the tiles were randomly placed

 in the display case. I arranged them according to hue 

so Richard could make his choices relative to the other colors.

"Palisade" mosaic in the entryway to the
Student/Faculty Center, Health Sciences Campus,
Temple University, Philadelphia

 Drawings for "Palisade" in Richard's studio.
Typically, the artist did not do a full-size drawing for Crovatto.
Instead the artist painted a small-scale model which
 the artisans at Crovatto interpreted, choosing the tile colors 
and enlarging the image to its final size.

Richard created an actual-size drawing for the mosaic and
choose the colors for each section. This is a detail of the drawing.

In progress mosaic on the floor at the Crovatto workshop.

 The tiles were glued to a paper in reverse in the Crovatto workshop.
At the site they were installed on the wall and the backing paper removed.

 Finally the tiles were wiped clean to reveal the
gleaming glass surface.

Richard in front of "Palisade."

 A few years ago we visited places in Philadelphia
where Richard had made a contribution to the city and to his students.
Richard with his son, Richard, and his daughter, Dianna.

Richard and Carol in front of gorgeous color.

Our trip included the garden on the Temple Campus

where Richard's name joins other Temple Faculty

winners of the Great Teachers Award.

With the money from his award, Richard established

the Richard Cramer Color Award for a graduating Senior painter.

The Color Award has been enhanced by the generous donations

made by friends in his honor.

Thank you.

I would also like to thank my friend and neighbor,

 Renata Delsignore,

for her generous gift of a film-to-digital converter which

enabled me to convert slides for this post.

Thanks, Renata!

A Bientot!