The Manternach Memorial Mural

The newly—and completely!—restored Manternach Memorial Mural was on view in the Main Gallery from 18 October – 17 November 2024
A selection of mural panels is currently on display on the museum's second level in the Northeast Gallery

The MURAL

Panoramic view of "The Manternach Memorial Mural" shortly after its installation at The Rourke (October 2024).

The Rourke Art Gallery + Museum is pleased to present The Manternach Memorial Mural by Cyrus M. Running. This monumental painting was created by Running as a memorial for Gordon S. Manternach (a graduate of Concordia College who, with his family, lived in a Moorhead neighborhood close to the college where a number of the staff and faculty lived) in the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library in 1966. The mural was damaged as a result of roof leakage and other environmental issues and was removed from the college library and given to The Rourke for future care in 2011.

The RESTORATION

Left: Mark Larson works on the second mural section in his home studio in 2022; Right: Cyrus M. Running works on completing "The Manternach Memorial Mural' at Concordia in 1966.

Mark Larson, a noted painter and former student of Running's, started the critical work of this project by restoring the second section of the Cyrus Running’s “Manternach” Memorial Mural” in 2022. This initial effort was completed thanks to the financial support of Mark Strand. In 2023, Larson restored the first and third sections. These first three sections required the greatest degree of restoration work, with large areas of paint loss and damage. Larson was able to complete cleaning, repair, and mounting of the remaining ten mural sections from late fall 2023 through summer 2024.

The frames for the mural sections were fabricated by Travis Klath of Untitled Design & Woodworking in Moorhead, Minnesota. Klath himself is a graduate of Concordia's art program (class of 2013).

We invite all those who value this mural, its importance in the histories of Concordia College and the arts community in Moorhead-Fargo, the legacy of Cyrus M. Running, and all those who support the proper mission of museums (to preserve and display such artworks as this!) to help by contributing to the Restoration campaign.

Support the Restoration

As of 31 October 2024, the following persons have contributed to the ongoing campaign to support the costs of restoring Cyrus M. Running’s “Manternach Memorial Mural”:

An Anonymous Donor
Mark Strand
Warren & Arlys Liebenow
Larry and Janet Carlson
Ineke Justitz
Anne Sovik
Claudia Murphy & John Rowell
Kathryn Benson

Stephen & Judith Spellman
Mark & Gwen Halaas
Nick & Ene Vogel
John & Cindy Benson
Charles Christianson
Josh Fisher
Heidi Goldberg
Michelle Halverson

Steve & Linda Hilstad
Denis & Sylvia Johnson
Cady & Jonathan Rutter
Virginia & Bradley Rutter
Cecilia Matta & Casey Riske
Peter Schultz
An Anonymous Donor

Cyrus M. Running

The artist Cyrus M. Running was born in Veblen, South Dakota in 1913. He received his bachelor’s degree in history and biology from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1934. Running did graduate work at Yale University (1936 to 1939), and received his M.A. at the University of Iowa (1940) where he studied under the regionalist painter Grant Wood. In 1940, he married Eldrid Thorpe—also an artist—with whom he raised four children. Running later did graduate work at the University of Minnesota and Instituto Allende in Mexico, where he was granted his M.F.A. Degree in 1956. Running’s artworks were exhibited regionally and nationally and he won numerous awards for his drawings, paintings, and prints. He was noted for large murals and mosaic panels that he created as architectural commissions in churches, schools, banks, and other public buildings as well as the mural backdrops produced for Concordia College’s annual Christmas concerts. This exhibit is comprised of one of his architectural commissions, which had originally been executed in the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library at Concordia College as a memorial to Gordon Manternach (Concordia class of 1949) in the summer of 1966.

Running was hired to head the art department at Concordia College in 1940. While he is rightly celebrated and remembered for his creative output as a visual artist, his lasting impact as an art instructor deserves equal attention. So many of Running’s students would go on to enjoy significant success as artists themselves: Charles Beck, Geri Burkhart Weiner, Walter Piehl, Betty Strand, Charles Halling, Orland Rourke, Kay Ornberg, Mark Larson, and James Tiernan O’Rourke, to name a few. It is also worth observing how many of his former students would return to Concordia to teach both alongside Running and after his retirement in 1974. He passed away in Moorhead in 1976.

Mark Larson is an American artist, specializing as a painter in oils. He is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota but lives part of the year in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Mark has exhibited his work extensively through solo and group shows over a period of 55 years. He produces much of his work for private commissions. His artwork is in the collections of Kenneth Dayton, Cargill MacMillan, Jr., Health Care and Technology International, Paris, the Philips Corporation, and Carmichael Lynch, Inc., to name a few. Mark holds graduate degrees from universities in the United States and Europe and has taught on both continents. His work has won numerous awards and has been covered by television and print media worldwide. It is thanks to Mark’s expertise and labor that the mural has returned to Moorhead and may be enjoyed once more.

Mark’s personal statement, pertaining to his experience with Cy Running:

“I studied painting and design under Cyrus Running at Concordia College from 1965 to 1969. ‘The Running Experience’ was impactful to say the least. Cy's strengths as an artist were rooted in his extraordinary design ability. He had the ability to effectively communicate his passion for design to his students. The [Manternach Memorial Mural] is a fine example of organizing a protracted rectangular space into story telling. His work is compelling.

The mural was installed in 1966 and I was fortunate to witness this as well as having the privilege to work with Running on several Christmas Concert murals, an annual event.

It should also be noted that Running was in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in 1956. He was heavily influenced by the Mexican muralists Rivera and Orozco who taught at the Convent school there. I believe that one can see a subtle influence in the depiction of his figures and facial expressions from this period in Mexico. Running also made a series of photographs from that period in Mexico, beautifully portraying the character of the Mexican peasantry.”

Mark Larson