WRIGHT BROTHERS

WILBUR WRIGHT AND THE STATUE OF LIBERTY: TEN YEARS OF RESEARCH LEADS TO A PAINTING
January 2014, by Dean Mosher | Air & Space Magazine

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In 2002, when I first learned of Wilbur Wright's 1909 flight around the Statue of Liberty, I knew I wanted to paint the scene. It would take 10 years of research, and I would end up building two models of the Flyer and its controls before I felt able to capture the moment on canvas. By the time I started my painting, which was recently accepted into the National Air and Space Museum's collection, I'd learned the full story behind that historic flight. Click here to continue reading...

MOSHER PAINTING ON PERMANENT DISPLAY AT SMITHSONIAN'S NATIONAL AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
August 1st, 2013

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The artist’s 8’ x 10’ “Wilbur Wright Greets Lady Liberty” canvas was placed on permanent display in the Early Flight Gallery of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the mall in Washington, DC. The artist was there with his wife Pagan and children Megrez and Cleveland. Present were Senior Curator Doctor Tom Crouch and Chief Curator Doctor Peter Jakabs.

Six years after the Wright Brothers defied gravity with their self-propelled flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., Wilbur Wright circled the Statue of Liberty in another of their inventions. Fairhope artist Dean Mosher has captured that remarkable flight in an 8-by-10-foot painting that will go on permanent display this July in the main hall of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum located on the mall in Washington, D.C. "I cannot imagine a better museum in the world to have this painting," Mosher stated to The Courier by email yesterday. "This is the only accurate depiction of this event and took years to research and reconstruct every aspect of the flight."

This past weekend, Amanda Wright-Lane, the great-grandniece of Orville and Wilbur Wright, visited Fairhope to spend time with Mosher and his family. She is a trustee of the Wright Family Foundation of the Dayton Foundation, which works to preserve the story of her family's contribution to aviation history.

"Your house itself is a museum," she said, as she walked through Mosher's living room Friday night, which houses a number of his large historical paintings and other artworks.

The two became friends during his work on the painting, which will soon move from its location in Dayton, Ohio, to its permanent display at the Air and Space Museum.

"The Library of Congress, Smithsonian Archives, Wright State Archives, the Wright Family and the Statue of Liberty Archives all gave me personal access to dig and shift through until the full story emerged," Mosher said. "And I am grateful to them all for this."

"WILBUR WRIGHT GREETS LADY LIBERTY" UNVEILED
May 31st, 2012

Dean Mosher’s canvas “Wilbur Wright Greets Lady Liberty,” depicting the pioneer aviator’s historic flight on September 29, 1909, was unveiled in Dayton, Ohio, on May 31, 2012, as one of the main events commemorating the centennial of the passing of Wilbur Wright... Click here to continue reading and watch videos.

THE WRIGHT "B" EXPERIENCE

On Saturday, June 2, 2012, Dean and Pagan Mosher were invited to join Amanda Wright Lane and Wright family members Margaret Streeter Edwards Brown, Robert Brown, Cynthia Edwards, and Brett Evans at Wright Brothers Airport, Miamisburg, Ohio, to take turns flying in the Wright “B” Experience replica of the historic Wright Model B Flyer... Click here to view photos.