Orozco Returns

Jose Clemente Orozco returned to Hanover in October to resume work on the great fresco project in the reserve book room of the Baker Library which was begun last June before the Mexican fresco artist went abroad for the summer. The announcement was first made last May, when Orozco completed the "Release" fresco on the end wall of the corridor connecting Carpenter Hall with the library, that the appointment of the famous muralist as a visiting member of the Department of Art had been continued and that as a result the walls of the reserve book room, comprising more than 3,000 square feet of wall space in admirable proportions for mural composition, would be covered with an epic of civilization on the American continent which Orozco, one of the foremost workers in true fresco, believes will be his masterpiece When the vast series of murals is completed, probably by the end of the present college year, it will be the largest fresco project yet executed in the United States.

Orozco came to Hanover last May on appointment of the College to exhibit the methods of painting fresco. During his stay here, while working on the "Release" fresco, he became interested in the walls of the large reserve book room, underneath the main foyer of the library, as a place for the project which had been developing in his mind for some time, depicting the epic of civilization on the American continent, showing the contributions of the European culture imposed on the native art of the pre-Columbian Americas, and climaxing with a prophecy of the future. "New world, new race, new art," is Orozco's succinct interpretation. He is especially interested in Dartmouth as one of the earliest meeting places of native and European civilizations. The project includes two large panels and eight smaller ones.

The epic of civilization on the American continent which Orozco will put on the library walls will be built around the myth of Quetzalcoatl, the American culture hero, who is the great figure of all pre-Columbian literature and art on this continent. On the basis of this myth of the White messiah of the Americas Orozco will paint an epic picture of continental history and a prophecy of the future.

During the year while working on his painting Orozco will give instruction to students in the art of fresco. Under Orozco's direction, Carlos Sanchez will conduct a course in fresco. Students will be given as a problem of design the walls of the Carpenter Hall-Baker Library corridor and will paint competitively full-size panels on paper for these spaces. They will study Orozco's technique, assist in the mechanical details of transferring the artist's designs from his sketches to the walls, try their hands at plastering, and even have a trial at painting.

Tuck Hall