NORWALK’S CREATIVE ECONOMY
The photo above might be familiar to a few of you, especially if you attended Norwalk High (now City Hall) back in the years when it had murals gracing most public area walls. The artwork depicts a busy steam room in a hat factory. During the early 20th century there were numerous hat factories in Norwalk and a major source of employment.
The artist was Warren Dahler who not only painted murals but was worked with textiles and along with his brother worked on rooms in the Lockwood Mathews Mansion. From about 1933 until his death in 1961, he had a studio in Norwalk, Connecticut. The 6-foot Steam Room in a Hat Factory oil painting was completed in March of 1939 and was part of the Federal Arts Project.
From the CT State Library:
“He was a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists in New Canaan and the National Society of Mural Painters. Dahler worked on the predecessor to the WPA Federal Arts Project, the Public Works of Art Project. He completed 12 easel works and two murals for the WPA. His work was allocated to Old Norwalk High School, New Norwalk High School, and Mansfield Training School. He specialized in delicate floral studies.”
Warren Winfred Dahler (1887-1961) was born in Helena, Montana in 1885. He graduated in 1905 from the University of Chicago and attended the National Academy of Design in New York City. He first worked for Montana-based Maude Adams Mining Co. and later pursued a more creative career. He designed sets for Broadway shows and illustrated for magazines in the 1920s. He was the director of painting at Herter Looms, a tapestry design company. He painted the murals in the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, CA; under the direction of Hector, after the San Francisco earthquake. 
If the Herter Looms reference sounds familiar, according to the NewCanannite:
“Herter Looms was founded by the artists Adele and Albert Herter in 1909, Findlay said. “Albert was the son of Christian Herter, the greatest cabinet-maker and decorator of the early Gilded Age—1865-1885—he, and his older brother Gustave Herter, were designers and decorators of several rooms in the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion, early in their Christian’s career.”
