Learning to Walk Again from the collection of Miriam McClung

"Learning to Walk Again" by Miriam McClung, 1972. At the VA in Tuscaloosa, AL. Oil on linen.

Learning to Walk Again, c. 1972

Oil on Linen Canvas

68 x 52 in

Inv: 426-MM

NFS

Not For Sale

This circa 1972 oil painting shows McClung's husband, Sonny McClung, an Air Force veteran, learning to walk again at the Tuscaloosa VA following a traumatic brain injury in the early 1970s. He is supported by two physical therapists at the parallel bars, while a third kneels at the lower right, to help move Sonny's leg forward one step at a time. Sonny was never able to walk again.

Miriam spent many days at the VA during Sonny's therapy, and during that time she drew and painted the men she saw there, including veterans returning home from the Vietnam War. The muted greens, soft grays, and warm flesh tones, along with the patient, careful brushwork, give the scene a deep sense of both struggle and dignity. This piece is one of McClung's most personal and emotionally weighty paintings, a tribute to the resilience of her husband and the other Veteran's who struggle to find their different but renewed self both physically and emotionally.

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