Art, Education, and a “new world society”: Joseph McCulley’s Pickering College and Canadian Muralism, 1934-1950

Abstract

In Depression-era Pickering College, a Quaker-founded private school in Newmarket, Ontario, headmaster Joseph McCulley guided what he called “a great experiment” in democratic education. McCulley’s educational philosophy was influenced by progressivism, social Christianity, and democratic socialism. These ideological influences are also evident in a 1934 mural executed by Pickering College’s artist-in-residence, Harold Hay-don. Not only is the subject matter of this particular mural consistent with McCulley’s ideals, but the mural form in general was a component of McCulley’s conception of the place of art in a coming “new world society”: in this future society, McCulley wrote, “art in all its forms shall no longer be the prized possession of a favoured few but its enrichment of life shall be the heritage of all.” This article explains the connection between McCulley’s educational philosophy and the contemporary meaning of Haydon’s mural. It then compares Haydon’s mural to other Canadian murals of the 1930s and 1940s.