Thesis: Carley Adler

A Delicate Balance Between the Artist and his Work: PreservingIsaiah’s Public Mosaic Murals

For the past 50 years, Isaiah Zagar has committed his life to city beautification; creating over 220 mosaic murals in Philadelphiathat are now at risk to a lack of regular maintenance and protection from demolition. Zagar is a self-proclaimed outsider artist: an artist driven by the compulsion to create immense spaces separate and distinct from the vernacular and the politics of everyday life.This compulsion is innate to Zagar’s nature, and often defines hisexistence.

While this thesis does not address the entire scope of Zagar’s work, it aims to examinethe intended context of Zagar’s legacy in Philadelphia and beyond, as well as issues of ownership and responsibility related to the public nature of the murals and their presence on private property.In comparing Zagar’s influences and sites documented by SPACES(Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments), this thesis outlines a maintenance plan for the mosaics entitled 4,000 Poets. This particular grouping of mosaics can be found on Schell Street between the Eyes Gallery and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens; the epicenter of Zagar’s work and where he began creating in the late 1960s that fostered the South Street Renaissance.