Barry Faulkner

Barry’s presence will long be felt in our art gallery. His careful, skillful supervision of many shows there gave inspiration to Century artists and aroused the admiration of all Centurions. It seemed as if whatever committees there were, concerned with any form of art, they simply could not get along without him. But in many other ways, too, he was a true pillar of our Association, having served on the Board of Trustees, the Nominating Committee, and the Committee on Admissions as well as the various art committees.

In the world outside, Barry was best known as a mural painter. Most celebrated are his murals in the National Archives building in Washington. One depicts the drafting of the Declaration of Independence, another that of the Constitution. Here in New York is the 79-by-14-foot mosaic “Intelligence Awakening Mankind” in the west entrance to the R.C.A. Building in Rockefeller Center. Others are “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence” in the John Hancock Building in Boston, paintings of Oregon history in the Oregon state capitol, and a war memorial in the American Academy in Rome. Barry, by the way, was a trustee of the academy from 1930 to 1952, when he was elected a life member.

Barry Faulkner was born in Keene, New Hampshire, eighty-five years ago, and Keene remained his home-town throughout his life. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Harvard, studied art with George de Forest Brush and Abbot Thayer. In 1907, he won the Rome Prize Fellowship in painting of the American Academy. In the First World War, he was a lieutenant with the United States Army Engineers.

He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, the Society of Mural Painters, and the St. Gaudens Memorial Association.

As a friendly, familiar figure at The Century, he will be sorely missed. We are grateful for his nearly fifty years of membership.

Roger Burlingame
1967 Century Association Yearbook