JOSÉ CLEMENTE OROZCO: THE EPIC OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION - EUA

JOSÉ CLEMENTE OROZCO: THE EPIC OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

       

Murals and Preliminary Drawings

As of March 2013, the Orozco mural cycle is designated a national historic landmark! Click here to read the article on Dartmouth Now.

One of the greatest treasures of the Dartmouth College collection is the ambitious mural The Epic of American Civilization, painted by the Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco between 1932 and 1934 in the reserve corridor of Baker Library, now the Orozco Room. Offering a complex and compelling narrative that covers the history of the Americas from the migration of the Aztecs into central Mexico to the development of our modern industrialized society, the mural is composed of twenty-four individual panels, or "scenes," and covers approximately 3,200 square feet. One of Orozco's greatest works, The Epic of American Civilization must also be counted among the finest examples of mural painting in this country. The Orozco Room was made possible by the Manton Foundation, whose generosity provides perpetual support for the preservation of the Orozco mural.

Visitors can view the mural whenever the Orozco Room is open.

DARTMOUTH DIGITAL OROZCO

The principal innovative feature of this new website is that the viewer may now study Dartmouth's contextual material in juxtaposition with, and in some cases overlaid upon, the final mural, providing the opportunity to compare preparatory drawings and in-process documentary photographs with the finished product. The site also provides access to original research conducted by Dartmouth students who participated in courses dedicated to learning about Orozco and the Mexican mural movement. This ongoing project will supply more information and documents to this site, as students and scholars add to our knowledge about this important mural cycle.

For more information, read the press release.

RADIO FEATURES

NHPR and VPR aired pieces about the March 2013 selection of the mural cycle as a national historic landmark.

RELATED MATERIALS

Click here to download a pdf file of the Hood Museum of Art and Dartmouth College Library free brochure entitled Orozco at Dartmouth.  

Click here, then here, to download only the visitor's guide from the brochure.

Three audio commentaries about Orozco's murals are available for you to download:

-- Take a tour with Professor Mary Coffey of the Art History Department, Dartmouth College. Professor Coffey is a specialist in Latin American art.

-- Listen to a question-and-answer session about Orozco's commission and experience at Dartmouth with independent scholar Dr. Jacquelynn Baas, director emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and first director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

-- Take a tour with Professor John Watanabe of the Anthropology Department at Dartmouth College. Professor Watanabe is a Latin American and Mesoamerican specialist.

Click here to view Professor Mary Coffey, a specialist in Latin American art, give the Manton Foundation Inaugural Orozco Lecture: "Cortes and the 'Angel of History': Reflections on Orozco's Epic of American Civilization and 'Messianic Time.'

Click here to watch "The Orozco Mural Quetzalcoatl," a 23-minute, color film written, produced, and directed in 1961 by Robert Canton '58. The film's purpose is to tell the myth of Quetzalcoatl as depicted in The Epic of American Civilization.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographs of the murals may be taken for personal use only. Flash photography is not allowed.

REPRODUCTIONS

For use of reproductions of Orozco mural images in a publication, please make a request in writing or by fax to the Hood Museum of Art. In the request, state the intended usage and whether the image will be produced in B&W or in color. Upon receipt, the Hood Museum will prepare a permission form and invoice to send to the applicant. B&W prints are sold to the applicant; 4 X 5 color transparencies are provided on a rental basis only.

Photographic Services
Hood Museum of Art
Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH 03755-3591
603-646-1400 (FAX)

TOURS

Tours of the mural are provided free of charge by the Hood Museum. Both adult and school tours tours can be arranged by contacting the Hood Tour Coordinator at least one month in advance of the tour date requested by e-mail hood.museum.tours@dartmouth.edu or phone (603) 646-1469. Click here for more information about the museum's school programs.