A tile mural of a 1920's Studebaker in Seville, Spain

[Gary_Ash]

My younger daughter and her family were in Seville, Spain recently and found a very nice ceramic tile mural of a 1920's Studebaker touring car.  The mural was apparently installed in 1924, still looks great.  The car might be a 1924 "Big Six".

 

I wonder if it's possible to have new ceramic murals created like that.  I could re-do the bathroom.

 

My grandchildren Riley and Will in front of the 1924 mural.  The car passengers seem to be pointing at Rodin's "The Thinker" statue.

 

 

[JFranklin]

That is very nice. There are businesses that can do custom tiles, but you will have to do the research.

Edited December 5, 2021 by JFranklin (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Wonder if the tiles were painted after setting, or if the design was painted on, then glazed and fired before setting them?

 

To have held up since 1924 (?) would almost have to have been the latter. 

 

Mediterranean and Near East countries definitely know what they're doing with tile.

[trimacar]

If one looks closely, you can see that some lines and shades don’t exactly match tile to tile.  I could see where they’d lay out blank tiles, paint the scene, then fire the tiles.  Interesting, either way beautifully done….

[Gunsmoke]

We can only imagine how much expertise, time and effort went into this amazing work. Laying out and applying the colored glazing and then numbering them all somehow (about 300 tiles incl border), and firing them all, and finally assembling the whole piece must have taken weeks. I am assuming it was initially a sort of "billboard" sponsored by the local Studebaker dealer (wording on center top tile in border may lend a clue). Thanks for posting such an unusual find.

[John_S_in_Penna]

And in what type of building was the mural located?

I suppose it was a Studebaker dealership at the time.

 

Also, it's interesting to ponder:  Such a permanent

material was used for such a transitory product.

Why, in just a few years, the mural would be there,

but the Studebakers they were selling would be much

different!  Maybe, like Henry Ford who thought that

he had perfected his product, the Model T, they weren't

aware of the  great progress coming in the future.

[Gary_Ash]

The mural is on the outside wall of a shop on Tetuan St. in Seville as originally installed.  The building housed a wine shop in 1924.  You can "walk" Tetuan St. on Google Street Maps and see the building.  The tiles were kiln-fired to have lasted 100 years.  As for the image of The Thinker in the background, there are at least 25 copies of the Rodin statue around the world in the 72-inch size.  The background, though, could be all fantasy with the car done from a photo.  I'll have to ask Richard Quinn if he can match the mural image to an old Studebaker ad.  My wife thought it interesting that there are five women in the car.  

 

The words at the top advertise the company that made the tiles in the Triana section of Seville.

 

If you want your own kiln-fired mural, here are a couple of places that will do the job for you, just bring a good photo and a big bag of cash:

https://tileartisans.com/  

https://www.tilebydesign.net/

 

Google Street Maps view of Tetuan St., Seville.  It appears to be a pedestrian way.

 

The ad from the maker of the tile mural.  There are still many ceramic ware and pottery shops in the Triana area of Seville according to Google.

[MikeC5]

That is quite impressive!  

[Terry Bond]

Took my breath away to see this again!  When the Navy had me in Spain years ago I made the most of my spare time and traveled extensively. I often wandered around many small villages and cities.  Spent time in Seville and admired this and many other of the beautiful tile murals decorating the city.  I took 35mm slides during my trip there and my copy of the image is tucked away with others from that time.  Seville was a real center of production for these tiles, and their origin dates back hundreds of years.   There is an excellent reference book that has been published "Andalusian Tilework - the art of ceramic decoration, published by Dosde .  It is still available at quite reasonable cost.  Here is a link if interested.

 

https://www.dosde.com/en/andalusian-tilework-ceramic-decoration-photo.html

There are also many commercially available images of this particular tile and a simple google search will lead you to reproductions that can be purchased to frame.  I suppose a modern recreation could be produced in ceramic tile easily.  Years ago, the famed Montaut tiles adorning the Michelin building in London were reproduced and readily available. 

 

It's a fabulous tile mural made of individually painted and fired ceramic tiles.   Looking at it again reminds me of the great time I had there exploring the city, it's many fantastic bodegas and the amazing restaurants. 

 

Thanks for posting-

Terry