Biography
Ralf Christian Henricksen was born in Chicago, IL, the son of a craftsman who decorated homes and public buildings. His father supported his artistic education, which involved four years at the Art Institute, where he won various awards and prizes, culminating in a Traveling Award that took him to Europe for further study. He received a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he came under the influence of Diego Rivera.
Back in Chicago, Henricksen created paintings and sculptures under government sponsorship in the period 1934-1943. His first mural commission was for the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes in 1936. The same year he completed four murals for the Gorton School in Lake Forest, IL, which he regarded as perhaps his most successful work. There followed more murals for the Federal Art Project (1936), a mural for the Horace Mann School in Oak Park (1936), three murals for the Horace Mann School in Chicago (1937), a Post Office mural in Monroe, MI (1938), four murals for the Amelia D. Hookway School (Chicago, 1939), two murals for West Pullman High School (Chicago, 1940), a Post Office mural for Stanton, IL (1941), and a mural for the U.S. Army Air Base at Scott Field, IL (1942).
Henricksen had a long tenure as art professor at Michigan State University and taught at the school's Summer Art School in Leland, MI. He had numerous exhibits with other well-known artists of the period and died in East Lansing in 1975.
Critical Analysis
Henricksen was a good draftsman and created excellent compositions in his murals. It's easy to see why he was one of the muralists of choice for school commissions. His school murals have a style that charms the eye but never verges into saccharine sentiment. Meanwhile his compositions are bold enough to retain viewers' attention and excite their interest. Regrettably, some of his work has recently come under fire. Oak Park removed several Depression Era murals from its schools in 2019 after criticism that its subjects were too white. The mural at the Horace Mann School was left in place because it would have been expensive to remove, but it was to be hidden under wooden panelling. Activists regarded the mural as insensitive to Native Americans.
Murals
- Chicago, Illinois - Horace Mann School: The Life of Horace Mann
- Chicago, Illinois - Partee High School: History of the New World
- Chicago, Illinois - West Pullman School: American Educational System
- Chicago, Illinois - West Pullman School: Americanization of Immigrants
- Lake Forest, Illinois - Gorton Community Center: Earth, Air, Fire, Water
- Oak Park, Illinois - Horace Mann School: Community Life of Oak Park in the 19th Century
- Staunton, Illinois - Post Office: Going to Work
- Monroe, Michigan - Post Office: Romance of Monroe
References
- Sarah Cascone, Chicago Schools Boast the Largest Collection of Early 20th-Century Murals in the US. So Why Are Activists Encouraging Their Removal?, artnet March 2 (2020).
- Ralf Henricksen (Wikipedia).
- Ralf Henricksen (askART).
- Ralf Henricksen (New Deal Art Registry).
- Timothy Inklebarger, Two more murals set for removal at local schools, Wednesday Journal May 3 (2019).
- WPA Mural Project (Gorton Community Center).