Following Paul Hadley's Footsteps

Depending upon our road trip budget, which is frankly zero, this may be the first in a series of blog posts following the footsteps of Paul Hadley (1880-1971), a Mooresville artist who designed the Indiana State Flag.  Read more about Mr. Hadley on this blog. You could also check-out several books about Mr. Hadley from Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room (see the Evergreen Indiana online catalog for details).

Paul Hadley (left) and Ralph E. Priest at the

John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis

applying gold leaf to Hadley's Indiana State Flag

design (ca. 1923)  Hadley was an instructor,

and Priest a student, at Herron

Mooresville Public Library is fortunate to have many original Paul Hadley paintings on display.

Paul Hadley Painting Gallery at MPL

(January 2012)

(Click photos to enlarge)

Let's consider one of Mr. Hadley's fine watercolors, shall we?

 Paul Hadley Painting of Cataract Falls

(Mill Creek, Owen County, Indiana)

South of Cloverdale, Indiana

I took a road trip in July, 2014 to compare the modern Cataract Falls to those Mr. Hadley painted nearly a century ago.

Cataract Falls (Lower Falls) (July 4, 2014)

I'm thinking Mr. Hadley painted the lower falls, since the water spilling over the rock face looks similar on the far left and near right.  The rock on the right was exposed in Mr. Hadley's painting; in our photo, you can tell it's beneath the water by the way the stream spills outward over the top of the outcropping.  The general rock shapes in Mr. Hadley's painting also resemble those in our photo of the lower falls.

Or is it the upper falls?  You be the judge.

Photoshopped Cauli Le Chat at Cataract Falls (Upper Falls)

(July 4, 2014)

The upper falls don't really resemble Mr. Hadley's painting, but take a peek at the video below. The video (2002) was recorded when the water level of Mill Creek was lower, and some of the underlying rock face was exposed.  My vote remains with the lower falls, however.

 

We have a boatload of photos from our adventure at Cataract Falls, but I'd like to include them in another blog post.