Sewing of the Lone Star: Caesar Harris' Oil on Canvas
By Bai Best
Published: 31 August, 2007
Since the Flag Day special edition of the Daily Observer, published on Thursday, August 23, many who continue to marvel at a certain painting we carried on the front page of that edition, have sent inquiries about this awesome piece of art.
It was a busy afternoon, Wednesday, August 22nd, and our Legislative reporter, George D. Kennedy, returned from his beat out of breath with a photo in his digital camera. “Mr. Best! Mr. Best!” he exclaimed. “I have a photo I think we could use for our Flag Day special!”
Raising his brow from his tiny little laptop, Daily Observer Managing Director Kenneth Y. Best asked to see the photo Kennedy was so excited about. The reporter opened the window of his little digital camera and there it was: a spectacularly beautiful photo of a wonderful mural which he had found on the walls of Virginia's Unity Conference Center, where he had been covering the House of Representatives.
The mural had been done by one of Liberia's most talented artists, in the person of Caesar Harris, now of sainted memory. Mr. Harris's masterpiece was done in October 1979, when the Conference Center was just being completed in time for the Summit Conference of the Organization of African Unity, of which President William R. Tolbert, Jr., was the incoming Chairman.
The time was too rushed on Wednesday, August 22, and the Daily Observer was going color that night for the Flag Day edition. There was no time to gather particulars of the creator of the painting that would adorn Thursday's front page.
But it's better late than never. Early this week we found the man who first spotted this talented young artist, Caesar Harris. The man is John Louis Dennis, II, former Director of the Audio Visual Bureau of the Liberian Information Service (now Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism). Himself a noted Liberian artist and photographic expert, Mr. Dennis ran many art and photography studios in the 1950s and 1960s.
Happy to speak with our reporter, Bai Best, about Dennis' student and employee, the former Information Audio Visual Director told the Daily Observer that in 1961 he and the late Edward Neblette operated a graphic arts shop on Front (now Sao Boso) Street on Snapper Hill, Monrovia on a part-time basis. This is because both of them were employed at what was then known as the Bureau of Information. The Bureau later became the Liberia Information Service (LIS), then the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs (DICA) and now, since 1972, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
One Afternoon, Mr. Dennis told Bai, “a young man by the name of Caesar Harris came to the shop and said he wanted to work with us. We were happy to have him because we had finally found someone who would be at the graphic arts shop during the day while we were at work.
Observing Harris' work, Dennis, who was also Chief of the Graphic Arts section at the Bureau, made a way for Harris to be employed at the Information Bureau as well. “There, Harris proved himself worthy of the opportunity because of his creativity and willingness to work.
“After a few years,” recalls Mr. Dennis, “we needed to send someone away for additional training, so I recommended him.” Harris was admitted to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, USA where Dennis and Neblette had also studied. Harris returned with many additional skills in fine arts, including portrait painting and designing exhibits for the Ministry. He then took leave of the Bureau for a teaching job at the University of Liberia, where the famous Liberian artist, sculptor and musician, the late R. Vanjah Richards, was head of the Art Department. Harris later became head of that Department.
There he practiced sculpture, too. Most unfortunately, Harris died last year, a great loss to the country and to his students. On the cover of his funeral program, Harris was shown holding a bust sculpture of President Tubman, which Harris had done.
Once, Harris invited Neblette and Dennis to Clay-Ashland to visit his father, who thanked the two men profusely for giving his son a head-start in the field of art.
The elder Harris recalled how, every time he bought copy books for his son, Caesar would just draw in them, unbeknownst to many that he would do so well in the arts.
Neblette and Dennis were very proud of Caesar Harris, whom they had recommended for employment at the Bureau of Information.
Harris' mural, which adorns the walls of the Unity Conference Center, was commissioned for the OAU Summit in 1980.
One of these days the Daily Observer will bring its readers another treat, other views of this masterful painting, by this celebrated Liberian painter, the late Caesar Harris.
We are grateful to our Legislative and Business reporter, George D. Kennedy, for taking the initiative, totally unbeknownst to management, to photograph that part of the mural depicting the Lone Star and the seven great Liberian women who crafted it in time for the Declaration of Independence of Africa's first republic, the Republic of Liberia.
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