PAINTING OF THE PIASA
SOMETIME IN 1950'S OR 1960'S
ALONG GREAT RIVER ROAD, ALTON, ILLINOIS
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COPYRIGHT DECEMBER 31, 2012 PETER A. BOSTROM

    This is one of the earlier paintings of the Piasa. The picture was taken by Bill Fecht sometime in the 1950's or 1960's. Because the paint doesn't last for very long, the Piasa images have been repainted many times. The earliest painting is reported to have been done in 1924 by Herbert Forcade who was eighteen years old at the time and a Boy Scout. J. H. Mawdsley, a Shurtleff college student, repainted the image in 1935 with funds from John McAdams and restored it in 1938 with red and green colors that replaced his earlier use of yellow. The next Piasa was painted in 1952 by Jack Buese and Eldon Grove. In 1963 the Piasa was painted by Ben DeMond on the rock at Norman's Landing. The next painting, in 1983, was financed by the Alton/Godfrey Rotary Club and was painted on a very large piece of metal plate that was bolted to the rock at Norman's Landing. The present day Paisa was created in 1998 by artist Dave Stevens from Godfrey, Illinois.
    It's interesting to note that Agnes Repplier, who wrote a biography of Marquette, mentions that the historian Fredrick Parkman, "was infinitely amused by the proposal of some enthusiasts in his day (mid-1800's) to repaint the figures as described by Pere Marquette. The difficulty of the task, rather than its utter and complete inexpedience, induced them to abandon the design." When the historian passed away in 1867 she wrote, "the rock once defied by the Indians bore a huge and harmless advertisement of "Plantation Bitters." Repplier also mentions that Marquette's original Piasa was regarded by the pious missionary as a symbol of deadly sin.

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