Mural No. GU-43752 (All Rights Reserved)

William Alvin Blayney, Mural No. GU-43752 (All Rights Reserved), 1969, oil, pen, and pencil on masonite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.6
Copied William Alvin Blayney, Mural No. GU-43752 (All Rights Reserved), 1969, oil, pen, and pencil on masonite, 37 1424 34 in. (94.662.9 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.6

Artwork Details

Title
Mural No. GU-43752 (All Rights Reserved)
Date
1969
Dimensions
37 1424 34 in. (94.662.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil, pen, and pencil on masonite
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Fantasy — dragon
  • Religion — Christianity
  • Emblem — cross
  • Religion — angel
Object Number
1997.124.6

Artwork Description

This painting depicts events from the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, the last book of the New Testament that recounts his vision of the Apocalypse. William Alvin Blayney was a Pentecostal minister who filled his paintings with images from the Bible, as well as supernatural creatures from his own imagination (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia, 1990). He created a unique language of symbols, numbers, and phrases that evokes the Pentecostal practice of “speaking in tongues.”