The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka (St. Nicholas Croatian Church)
Website:
Telephone Number:
Location:
24 Maryland Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15209
Hours:
Saturdays 11 AM and 12:30 PM
Fourth Mondays from June through November at 6 PM
Description:
About St. Nicholas Croation Catholic Church:
The church high atop a hill in Millvale, along the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh, was completed in 1900, making it the first church in the United States built from the ground up. Before having this home, Croatians worshipped at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Grant Street and then at St. Mary of the Assumption on 57th Street. A devastating fire destroyed most of St. Nicholas Church. After a little more than a year, the rebuilt – and more austere -- church was dedicated in 1922. Father Albert Zagar became pastor of St. Nicohlas Church who hired muralist Maxo Vanka.
About Maxo Vanka:
Maxo Vanka completed 25 individual murals in two brief but intense periods in 1937 and 1941. He then returned to the Church in 1951 to add the five symbols of Christianity to the choir loft.
Vanka’s paint medium was not obvious. It is documented that he tried to make his own from a variety of substances – including mayonnaise – but finally settled on a commercial preparation of casein.
Father Zagar lightly prescribed the artist’s subject matter and Vanka maximized his opportunity to pay tribute to faith while expressing his passionate beliefs about social justice, injustice, the horrors of war and helping to preserve and celebrate cultural identity among an immigrant population.
The 75-plus year presence of the 25 main murals has been largely unaltered with approximately 4,500 square feet of the original paintings on constant display. Other aspects of Vanka’s work including a detailed textile design that covered almost every other open wall and pillar space were modified in keeping with the needs of the Church.
Although not a western Pennsylvania artist, Vanka’s work is reminiscent of the visual storytellers at work during the same time period. Vanka referred to the murals as his “Gift to America.” This collection has been compared to the works of the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.
From museum website
133 years young, the painter known for his murals at Millvale’s Saint Nicholas Croatian Church, Maxo Vanka is alive and well in 2022. He’s also hip to 2022 tech. Though he’s shed his earthly body, his soul can be felt through new works of art and his voice heard through the murals on the church’s walls. The murals, who’s messages ring as true today as they did 85 years ago, were created just before the start of Second World War.