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Orozco's Epic of American Civilization

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  • Detail from José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization: The Coming of Quetzalcoatl (Panel 5), 1932–34, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.934.13.5. Photo by Jeffrey Nintzel.

    José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization: The Coming of Quetzalcoatl (Panel 5), 1932–1934, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.934.13.7. Photo by Jeffrey Nintzel.

  • José Clemente Orozco, Mexican, 1883 - 1949, The Epic of American Civilization: The Departure of Quetzalcoatl (Panel 7), 1932-1934, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.934.13.7

    José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization: The Departure of Quetzalcoatl (Panel 7), 1932–1934, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.934.13.7. Photo by Jeffrey Nintzel.

  • Detail from José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization, 1932-34, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.943.13.1–24. Photo by Jeffrey Nintzel.

    Detail from José Clemente Orozco, The Epic of American Civilization, 1932-34, fresco. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Commissioned by the Trustees of Dartmouth College; P.943.13.1–24. Photo by Jeffrey Nintzel.

Virtual 3D Tour

Virtually explore the mural cycle through this 3D Matterport tour. Move through the space by clicking on the transparent circles on the floor. Click on the gray icons to learn more about Orozco's mural cycle through additional imagery, text, and audio.

About

José Clemente Orozco painted The Epic of American Civilization between 1932 and 1934. The mural cycle, which was designated as a national historic landmark in 2013, is located in the Orozco Room in Baker Library and is considered one of Dartmouth's greatest artistic resources. The mural’s 24 panels cover nearly 3,200 square feet of wall space. As Professor Mary Coffey writes in the Hood Museum of Art's publication Orozco at Dartmouth: "José Clemente Orozco reorients the 'epic of America' from the standard US narrative that begins with British colonization along the northeastern seaboard and proceeds heroically west to a Mexican story rooted in Mesoamerican civilizations and the devastation wrought by the Spanish Conquest . . . Orozco presents America's epic as cyclical in nature, the eternal return of destruction and creation, rather than a linear tale of democratic expansion and progress."

Related Publications

Orozco at Dartmouth: The Epic of American CivilizationOrozco en Dartmouth: La épica de la civilización americanaMen of Fire: José Clemente Orozco and Jackson PollockA Closer Look: “Gods of the Modern World” from the Epic of American Civilization by José Clemente Orozco

Additional Information

Related Exhibitions

Exhibition subject: Mexico, Central, & South America

Related Events

More Events >

VIRTUAL LECTURE: The Manton Foundation Annual Orozco Lecture

Apr 29
5:00-6:00PM