This painting and the accompanying prints are based on the Lovejoy Columns. From 1948 to 1952, Greek Immigrant and Artist Athanasios Efthimiou Stefopoulos, known in America as 'Tom', created a series of paintings on the pillars of the old Lovejoy Ramp in Portland Oregon. The paintings depict a mixture of Greek Mythology and Americana, painted in a calligraphic style.
In 1997, the Lovejoy Ramp was slated for demolition as the old rail yard was being rebuilt as a new neighborhood and extension of the Pearl District. Through extensive lobbying and meetings with the city and the neighborhood, a group of dedicated volunteers managed to convince the city to save not just the paintings but the entirety of the columns they were painted on arguing that if the paintings alone were cut free, much of their magic would be lost.
With the old ramp demolished, the painted columns were carefully protected and cut free. Some have since been re-erected in the plaza of the Elizabeth Building at NW 10th and Flanders, in the Pearl District of Portland.
The Lovejoy Columns have a new and public home in the Plaza of the Elizabeth Tower at NW 10th between Flanders and Everett. The paintings will be preserved and restored in place in the near future.
Based on information and pictures by James Harrison: (http://jamesmharrison.websiteanimal.com/#/lovejoy-columns/4514315642)
