TUSCALOOSA.. Over 20 valuable pieces of art ranging from a multi-colored mosaic to a baldacchino, or altar canopy, compose just part of the legacy left Tuscaloosa’s Catholic community with the recent death of Frank L. Engle, professor emeritus of art, the University of Alabama.
Working closely with James Edward Woodall, respected and well-known Alabama architect of the 1960s, Engle designed and created all of the art in Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Tuscaloosa. The church, which was dedicated in 1965, is built in a contemporary interpretation of the historic Christian Romanesque style and is reminiscent in appearance to Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, c. 533-549. Local Tuscaloosa builder Herbert Orr was the contractor for the church.
The characteristics of this Christian style, which inspired the architecture by Woodall and the art works by Engle, is reflected in blunt heavy walls, an overall simplicity and blocky appearance with the external walls reflecting the interior structure. The elongation, angularity and agitated gestures of the relief sculpture are especially evident in the two apostle panels found inside the church.
Holy Spirit Church is unique not only because it was the most ambitious artistic project every undertaken in Tuscaloosa at that time but also because it is a structure in which all of the parts have successfully been integrated. It was at that time, and still is today, quite unusual for a church to commission an artist for such a task as that at Holy Spirit Church.
Engle’s work for Holy Spirit includes an ethereal crucifix over the altar and monumental statues in pure gold leaf of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph the Workman on either side of the altar. The altar itself is decorated with a glowing medallion using the symbol of the pelican, representing the Church caring for its flock. Pure gold leaf and blue, traditional early Christian colors, are used extensively throughout the church.
On either side are the apostle panels and the 14 Stations of the Cross, lining both sides of the sanctuary. Cast in deep relief in large framing panels, these are among the most highly personal and successful of Engle’s pieces in the church and carry out the Pentecostal theme.
A reredos, a multi-colored glass mosaic found behind the altar, is composed of tile from Mexico. The reredos is the full height of the building, going from the floor to the ceiling of the church or almost 30 feet.
A native of Indiana, Engle graduated from Herron College of Art of Indiana University and did his graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1949 he won the prestigious Mary Milliken Scholarship Award. During World War II, Engle was a patternmaker for Lockheed Aircraft Corporation where he eventually became head of the Experimental Pattern Department.
After the war, he opened Engle Studios in Los Angeles and Newberg, Indiana, where his designs included the well-known red, white and blue crest, which was for many years the emblem of Ford Motor Company. His works were handled by such stores as Nieman-Marcus, Gumps, Macy’s, Marshall Field’s, Hudson’s, I. Magnin, and Wanamaker’s, as well as by individual decorators. His works were often used in magazine advertisements and for sets in the motion picture industry, and commissioned by such hotels as the Shamrock in Houston.
Engle joined the faculty at the University in 1949. His works have been recognized nationally and internationally in the United States and Mexico and are included in such collections as the Blount Collection of American Art, Blount International Headquarters, Warner Collection, Louisiana State University Collection, and Mississippi University for Women Collection, Evansville University Collection and the Collection of the Butler Institute of American Art. He participated in the 1991 Alabama Biennial sculpture exhibition and the 1993 Sculpture Garden II in Chattanooga. In 1994 he was presented the Distinguished Career Award by the Society for the Fine Arts and the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Alabama.
Engle is survived by his wife, Bethany Windham Engle, a daughter Eve Engle
Kneeland, three grandsons, Evan, Chris, and Patrick, and a son-in law, Richard Kneeland. A memorial service is planned for Frank Engle at his home and studio on Sunday, April 28, at 2 p.m. For additional information on Engle and the memorial service, call xxxxxxxxx..