Elijah E. Myers, Architect

1995
Painted by Joseph DuMont
Oil on Canvas

This portrait of Elijah Myers, the architect of the Michigan State Capitol, shows Myers standing in his office in Springfield, Illinois. He holds the plans for his Capitol design, titled “Tuebor,” and his sketches for the building and the Senate Chamber are laid out on his drafting table. Myers faces away from the viewer and gazes straight ahead, as if lost in thought over his designs and unaware of the audience before him. He wears a suit and tie, the latter matching the red curtain draped across the window behind the man. This curtain, along with the dark wood used in the window and the furniture behind Myers, gives the painting a neoclassical feeling that compliments the style of his Capitol design.  

Myers is painted in a graphic, almost cartoon-like fashion. The high levels of contrast and flat areas of color used in his figure, particularly on his vest and suit jacket, cause the architect to almost pop off the canvas. The colors used in his skin tone similarly provide a graphic, not quite lifelike, appearance. This portrait, created in 1995, was based off a historic photo of Myers. Though it depicts a man who lived in the 19th century, it is painted in a more contemporary style. The piece was commissioned by the Senate during the Capitol’s restoration in the late 1980s.