Prochownik: Drawings for "You, the People,"

Walter A. Prochownik’s obituary published in The Buffalo News on August 16, 2000, outlines the origins of his mural commission for the Erie County Rath Building in Buffalo:

Though he quickly became well known in art circles—locally, nationally and internationally—Prochownik was virtually unknown to many Buffalonians until the early 1970s, when his ability to create "understandable" art solved an important problem for Erie County legislators, who wanted a mural for the lobby of the Rath Building but felt a proposal from an artist who won a county-sponsored contest to do the mural was too abstract and rejected it.

A committee headed by then-County Executive Edward Regan recommended Prochownik for the project, suggesting he paint "an artistic statement which can be easily understood by the average citizen."

Prochownik's proposal was unanimously accepted, and the colorful mural he later described as dealing with "the human element that creates a unified community, with man as a builder," was dedicated in December 1974. It depicts the people of Erie County, past, present and future. (https://buffalonews.com/article_ca4e63b2-6847-502f-882b-75b0a8759584.html)