Saving the Pfizer Greek Mural

There is a heritage battle currently being played out in New York over a rare Greek mural that once graced the New York headquarters of the powerful pharmaceutical corporation, Pfizer, and which involves the artistic and cultural legacy of a pioneering Greek-American artist, Nicholas Baloyannis.

In 1960 Pfizer commissioned the artist who by now went under the name Nikos Bel-Jon to create a mural for the lobby of their new headquarters in midtown Manhattan, 235 East 42nd Street, near Grand Central Terminal.

The result was an impressive but massive mosaic tile and steel mural, titled “Medical Research Through the Ages,” measuring 12 metres wide and 5.5 metres (40 foot wide by 18 foot high) and honouring ancient and modern figures in the respected disciplines of medicine and science.

After 60 years Pfizer has off-loaded the building and it is currently being converted by the MetroLoft Group to roughly 1,500 rental apartments in what is New York's largest office-to-residential conversion to date.  Unfortunately, Pfizer, when vacating the building, opted not to take the mural, claiming that the money needed to deconstruct, relocate and reinstall the mural elsewhere would be better spent on “patient-related proprieties”.

The mural is now threatened with destruction or dismemberment if a new home cannot be found for it.

The mural traces the evolution of medicine and features eminent figures ranging from the “Father of Medicine,” Hippocrates, St Luke, Dr. Edward Jenner, Sir Alexander Fleming, Louis Pasteur, Dr. Walter Reed and others from the Pantheon of the healing arts through the ages.  The mural also employs alchemical symbols and stylistically designed laboratory equipment.

Over the years Pfizer employed conservators from Evergreene Architectural Arts to treat the distinctive mosaic.  In their words:

"Patinated and polished sheets of copper, brass, stainless steel and aluminum are fitted to produce the figures clustered around a central group of beakers and retorts of aluminum sheets. The artist developed additional images of chemical and biological industry using a unique technique of drawing on the aluminum sheets by selective sanding and polishing. The whole is set in a field of thousands of polished stainless steel tesserae. The innovative techniques produced astounding and unusual effects, particularly when lighted with colored and shifting spotlights as the artist intended."

Who was Nikos Bel-Jon?

Nikolaos Baloyannis received a Master of Arts degree from the Superior School of Fine Art in Athens in 1936 and then attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the École du Louvre in Paris, France under a scholarship from the Government of Greece in 1938. He developed a love of metal during his studies of various metal-arts techniques of hidden treasures in the Louvre laboratories.

He had also previously studied Byzantine art at a monastery at Mount Athos in 1935.

Baloyannis served in the Greek army during World War II but was wounded and eventually discharged after which he served as Chief of the Section of Fine Arts for the Greek Ministry of Religion and National Education in Athens. In 1946 he returned to France to complete his studies and from there migrated to the United States.

He arrived in Los Angeles where he met and married a fellow artist, Troy Kendall. While in Los Angeles Bel-Jon found work at Fox Studios and also painted murals for movie theatre lobbies.

In 1950 he changed his name to Nikos Bel-Jon and obtained US citizenship two years later.
At around this time he began working on creating murals on metal and rose to prominence as one of the most popular muralists in the United States, with commissions from a number of corporations and institutions,  Kaiser Aluminum, the F.B.I. - J. Edgar Hoover, the Greek Consulate in New York and the Lincoln Centre.

One of his first mosaics in metal was installed in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in San Francisco in around 1955 but was sadly lost when the church was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake.

Nikos and Troy had two daughters, Athena Fotini Bel-Jon DeBonis and Rhea Panayiota Bel-Jon Calkins. Bel-Jon was decorated by the Hellenic Republic in 1964 at the Greek Consulate in New York with the Order of the Phoenix Medal in recognition of his wonderful art and contribution to Greek heritage and culture.

In addition to his paintings and murals, Bel-Jon acquired a 1938 Lincoln Zephyr Coupe and rebuilt it with clay and then covered it with colored metal mosaic tiles and fiberglass and named it “Athena”.  In 1959 he famously drove his family in the car 3000 miles cross country from San Francisco to New York where it featured in the 1960 Greek Independence Day parade.

Sadly, Nikos Bel-Jon's brilliant career was cut short by his death in 1966.

The Pfizer Mural

Pfizer has in the past referred to it proudly as “The Pfizer Mural”, noting that it was included in the book "Best Public Art in New York".  The corporation's social media still features the work:

[The building's main attraction was this 11x4 metre mural in the entrance hall depicting the progress of medicine. For its creation, the author Nikos Bel-Jon used thousands of hand-cut tiles and prepared huge metal relief figures.]

And, of course, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals has a strong Greek connection.

In April 2022 the Pfizer President and CEO, Albert Bourla, was awarded by Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou Greece’s highest civilian honor, the Golden Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, for his distinguished work in the pharmaceutical industry in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic and his services to the country. The Order of the Redeemer is awarded to Greek citizens who have distinguished themselves in defending the interests of their country or have provided exceptional social services in Greece or abroad.

Bourla, a native of Greek-Jewish background from Thessaloniki, responded that this distinction was the most important he had ever received as it came from the homeland and the Greek State.  “I am very lucky to find myself in this position and be able to help.”

Pfizer of course is now a giant in the pharmaceutical industry. In 2024 Pfizer was recognised by Time Magazine as one of Time’s 100 most influential companies and it is ranked #20 on Fortune Magazine’s 2024 Most Admired Companies List. It reported earnings of over $50 billion in 2023.

In its 2023 Impact Report, Albert Boula also extolled Pfizer as one of the world’s most trusted and innovative healthcare companies - a “good corporate citizen” - dedicated to being a force for good in the world by acting with integrity and pursuing a "strong culture of integrity".

Well, Pfizer and Albert Bourla have a splendid opportunity to live up to these lofty standards.

The landmark Pfizer Mural needs to be saved and relocated and reinstalled in a suitable venue so that future generations can appreciate both the creative, artistic and cultural heritage values of this exceptional work of art.

As the preservationist Andrew Cronson has written:

“Bel-Jon’s mural is just something to behold with an intrinsic value that spans America and abroad as a universal point of pride for the Greek nation. He was able to create something planted firmly in the past, while being aspirational for what is to come."

The Pfizer Mural must be preserved.

George Vardas is the Arts and Culture Editor and is a cultural heritage consultant