The Epic of American Civilization
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The Epic of American Civilization
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| Location | Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire |
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| Coordinates | 43°42′18″N 72°17′21″W / 43.70500°N 72.28917°WCoordinates: 43°42′18″N 72°17′21″W / 43.70500°N 72.28917°W |
| Built | 1932 |
| NRHP reference # | 13000283 |
| Added to NRHP | February 27, 2013 |
The Epic of American Civilization is a mural by the social realist painter José Clemente Orozco. It is located in the basement reading room of the Baker Memorial Library on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The mural, painted between 1932 and 1934, consists of a series of 24 fresco panels, whose principal themes are the impact of both indigenous Native Americans and European colonists on North America, and the impact of war (particularly the Mexican Civil War and the First World War) and rapid industrialization on the human spirit. The mural was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2013.
The two themes of the mural are arranged in separate wings of the reading room. The west wing contains ten panels on the first theme, that of Native Americans.
This panel is located on the short western wall, to the left of the doors. It depicts the arrival of natives as a grim march, echoing the industrially-oriented panel at the far eastern end of the room.
Located over the western doors, this panel shows a rattlesnake flanked by spears. Its color palette suggests it was painted when Orozco worked on the eastern panels.
This panel, to the right of the western doors, depicts human sacrifice as practiced by ancient Mesoamericans, in which the living heart is removed from the sacrificial victim. The panel has an analog (as the first one does) on the opposite wall of the east wing.
This and the next four panels are on the north wall of the west wing. This one depicts Aztec warriors wearing eagle and jaguar costumes, and includes a representation of the head of the plumed serpent god Quetzalcoatl.
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