Untitled mural by Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor's mural tells a story of Houston’s Third Ward. The left side shows a night scene in the neighborhood, featuring a variety of businesses and homes. At the lower left corner, there is an advertisement for a concert by the Harlem Stars, the original Houston-based recording group of the blues legend Big Mama Thornton, playing at Houston’s City Auditorium, the municipal music hall that was open from 1910 until 1963. The artist depicts a bustling nightlife, with a pool hall, motel, and street vendors filling the scene. The attire of the people in the mural is notable; one man is dressed fancily in a tuxedo and hat, others are dressed formally but not quite so lavishly, while there are also people dressed more casually. Towards the center of the mural, dawn is breaking in the neighborhood, as the streets fill with vendors and children, a biker, and pedestrians. In the right panel, the background features industrial buildings. Below, two people are fishing in a river, and in the foreground a man is asleep under a tree, holding a bottle of liquor.
Taylor’s mural is a prime example of how the Hannah Hall murals serve as a visual archive of Texas Southern University students’ experiences. Taylor was raised in the heart of Houston’s Third Ward, a short walk from the iconic Blue Triangle Community Center and just a mile away from Texas Southern’s campus. His mural shows the neighborhood he grew up in and the changes it underwent. Taylor would go on to become an art teacher in Port Arthur’s Thomas Jefferson High School in 1969, and was one of the first Black teachers hired by the school district after integration. At Jefferson High, Taylor sponsored the school art club, perhaps inspired by his participation in TSU’s Premiere Art Club as a student. Speaking of Mr. Taylor’s teaching, one student told the yearbook, “he really helps you draw.” At TSU, Taylor was also a pole vaulter on the track team and a member of the Alpha Mu Omega Philosophical Fellowship.
- Title
- [unknown]
- Description
- Taylor's mural captures a snapshot of Houston’s Third Ward in the mid-20th century. An ad for Big Mama Thornton’s Harlem Stars’ performance at City Auditorium indicates that Houston is the setting. The scene is a busy and varied one; people in various sorts of dress walk around, while children play in the streets and a derelict man sits by a tree.
- Creator
- Cecil Taylor
- Date Created
- c. 1963
- Medium
- unknown
- Spatial Coverage
- 3rd floor, Hannah Hall, Texas Southern University
- Extent
- 226 x 72 in.
- Media
taylor compressed.jpg
Learn more:
Mr. T Cecil Taylor (youtube.com)
ARH00305.pdf (si.edu) - information about Big Mama Thornton
CHAPTER 04 Houston's City Auditorium, Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall (youtube.com)
This program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.