James Michael Newell

James Michael Newell studied in New York and Paris, where he learned the art of fresco painting. He spent time in Italy practicing his technique, then returned to the States and won several government-sponsored mural competitions. Many of his colleagues in the Works Progress Administration hung large canvases on the walls of public buildings, but Newell’s true fresco painting involved painting with freshly ground pigments brushed into the wet plaster of the wall.