Head of Teacher for Anglo-America (Panel 13) for The Epic of American Civilization

Inscriptions

Reverse, inscribed, in graphite, lower left: 1401; reverse, inscribed, in ink, lower right: Dibujo original de / J.C. Orozco sin firma Lucrecia Orozco [signature]; on mount, inscribed, in green marker, lower center: Cert. L; on mount, inscribed, in blue ink, lower center: 61.1780.1; on mount, inscribed, in green marker, lower right: 1401M

Label

José Clemente Orozco made hundreds of preparatory sketches for his early 1930s mural, The Epic of American Civilization, located in Dartmouth’s Baker Library. Early studies for the schoolteacher’s face resemble George Washington, one of the most recognizable and reproduced historical figures of all time. In the mural’s final version, Orozco portrayed the stern-faced schoolteacher as an agent of conformity and control surrounded by expressionless school children. By merging George Washington with the schoolteacher, Orozco highlighted how US education promotes nationalism by not fully reckoning with the nation’s entangled, complicated, and often violent history.

Comparative illustration at bottom of label: José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization: Anglo-America (Panel 13), fresco, 120 x 103 in. (304.8 x 261.6 cm). Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.934.13.15

From the 2022 exhibition Historical Imaginary, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

Film Studies 42.23, Travelers and Tourists, Heidi Denzel, Spring 2023

History 63.02, Reading Artifacts: The Material Culture of Science, Whitney Barlow Robles, Spring 2023

Exhibition History

Historical Imaginary, Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 8, 2023-May 28, 2023.

Provenance

The artist; by descent to Alicia del Rosario González Bonnin, Mexico City, Mexico; sold to present collection, 2016.

Catalogue Raisonne

Orozco family catalogue number: 1401

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