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"Mark Twain and John Lewis" mural
1188 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, New York

Work completed:
2019
Artist:
Eduardo Kobra
Wynwood Walls, Miami mural
Sponsor:
Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s Public Art Initiative
Partial Reprint

Massive New Mural Depicting Mark Twain and John Lewis Set to Begin on Hertel Avenue
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, July 18, 2019

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s Public Art Initiative recently began work on a new mural by artist Eduardo Kobra (Brazilian, born 1976) at 1188 Hertel Avenue. The location is on the east side of a building owned and operated by People Inc., adjacent to Ristorante Lombardo.

Street art is one of the most celebrated forms of art in São Paulo, Brazil. One of the artists at the forefront of the metropolis’s stunning contemporary art scene is Eduardo Kobra, best known for his massive, brightly colored murals infused with bold lines. His famous photorealistic works often depict portraits of iconic historical figures. His work is a combination of various techniques including painting with a mix of brushes, airbrush, and aerosol cans. Kobra has completed hundreds of murals in Brazil, painted in seventeen countries, and most recently completed a residency in New York City during which he produced eighteen murals, making him arguably one of the most well-known muralists in the world.

Kobra often draws on the history of the region in which he is painting to inform his work. When starting discussions about working in Buffalo, he identified the area’s storied history with Mark Twain as his subject, and specifically has focused on Twain’s relationship with John Lewis.

Twain lived in Buffalo at 472 Delaware Avenue from 1869 to 1871 when he was an editor at the Buffalo Express. In 1877, Twain made the acquaintance of John Lewis as a result of Lewis’s swift and heroic action to stop a runaway horse and buggy that was carrying Twain’s sister-in-law and her daughter to almost certain death. The two would become great friends for the rest of their lives. Some scholars believe that the character of Jim in Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is based at least in part on John Lewis. The two men are buried next to each other in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Leaves from the original handwritten manuscript of Huckleberry Finn are on display in the Mark Twain Room at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library Central Library thanks to a gift made possible by public and private funding, including a significant grant from The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation in 1995.






Eduardo Kobra   ...   July 19, 2019 photo by Helen Brady

July 21, 2019 photos - WORK IN PROGRESS


July 21, 2019 photo



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July 21, 2019 photo



July 21, 2019 photo



July 21, 2019 photo   ...  
Mark Twain


July 21, 2019 photo   ...   Assistant at work



July 21, 2019 photo   ...   Assistant at work



July 21, 2019 photo   ...   Kobra




August 3, 2019 - COMPLETED MURAL


August 3, 2019



August 3, 2019




August 3, 2019




August 3, 2019




August 3, 2019





August 3, 2019











Kobra mural at Wynwood Walls, Miami





Except where noted, photos and their arrangement © 2019 Chuck LaChiusa
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