The Mystery of the 1939 World’s Fair Paintings

Posted in Current Exhibits, Exhibits

John A. Roebling’s Sons Steel Factory

John A. Roebling’s Sons steel factory exhibited seven mural-style paintings at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Three of the largest paintings are on view in Gallery Five, on the upper floor of the Trenton City Museum.

Lost from view for some 40 years, the paintings re-emerged in the early 1980s when a Mercer County worker discovered them in a vault in an old John A. Roebling’s Sons Company building in Trenton. The paintings depict scenes from the Roebling factories and some of the company’s famous bridges, including the George Washington Bridge, which opened in 1931. Other paintings from the same series are on loan to the Roebling Museum in Roebling, New Jersey.

To this day, the mural-style paintings carry with them a mystery: Who painted these extraordinary works?

Perhaps this exhibit will unlock a memory or spark an insight into who created this artwork.