This paper will take a look at a mural on the wall of Indiana University Southeast’s library in New Albany, IN.  This mural was painted by twelve students who participated in a painting class in the first summer session of 2000.  The work was designed on a computer and transferred to the wall by means of a grid.  As far as I can tell, the mural is untitled, but it is intended to be a tribute to the history of writing.
     The piece is quite large.  Though I didn’t break out a measuring tape, I would estimate the entire work to be over ten feet tall, and over fifteen feet wide.  Much of the mural consists of a background of a lush, grassy plain with scattered trees and distant mountains, and a vivid sky fading from red near the top, to orange in the middle, and to yellow where it meets the horizon.  Against this backdrop stand several icons representing the history of writing.
     The upper left corner features one of the better features of the work, a cave painting of a horse, presumably rendered after one of those found in Lascaux, France.  To the right of the cave painting are three Greek columns in the Doric style.  The columns stand upon a base and support a lintel, atop which lay scattered several books, both open and closed.  In the background stand two pyramids, each in one of the two spaces between the three columns.  In front of the columns, on their left side, sits an Egyptian scribe, obviously modeled after the 24th century BCE Seated Scribe of Saqqara.  The mural’s scribe sits cross-legged, staring directly ahead while writing on the scroll held in his lap, as the largest pyramid looms directly behind him in the distance.
     Moving to the right of the mural, the next feature to catch the eye is a reddish-brown mountainous landscape, which blends with the sky and is clearly separate from the lush, greenish-blue mountains of the landscape below it.  A trail seems to lead up the rocky terrain, and what looks to be a Chinese fortress or temple sits near the summit.
     Below the rocky landscape, upon the plain, stands what appears to be an East Asian temple, possibly Indian - dull and muddy in color, and barely noticed.
     To the right of the temple, the grassy plain is replaced by a floor of stone tile.  Upon this floor stands a bespectacled image of James Murray, the man responsible for much of the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary.  White-haired and bearded in a black cap and 19th century suit, he stands with a book open in his left hand, with what appears to be a note in his right.  Though at first glance Murray appears to be looking at the note, closer inspection reveals his gaze to be slightly above it, either as if looking up from his work, or perhaps staring at the cave painting.  At Murray’s feet, upon the tiled floor, stands a globe of the Earth.
     To Murray’s right, and at his back, stand two columns of more recent design than those of the Greeks.  The tops of the columns seem to grow out of the Chinese mountain scene and form most of an arch which ends on the mural’s right side.  Through the arch, in the background, lies more grassy plain, trees, and distant mountains.  In the foreground, the tiled floor seems to become a balcony, with a stone railing separating it from the background.  On the balcony stands a library table (presumably from IUS), upon which sit a desk lamp and two closed books.
     The mural is surrounded by a tan border, the bottom of which integrates a row of books.  Upon the spines of the books are written the names of famous writers, poets, librarians, and notable contributors to the development of writing, as well as the names of the students who painted the mural.
     Taken as a whole, this work, while not a marvel of craftsmanship, is rather pleasing to look at and contains a good mix of colors without causing a headache or looking depressing.  It’s, big, roomy, and uncluttered.  The viewer’s attention is immediately drawn to the two human figures in the mural, giving one to speculate on their identity, and especially in Murray’s case, what they are looking at.  The cave painting is very well rendered, and a good place to begin the history of writing – while not writing per se, cave painting likely did serve as a means of recording events.  The mural is also interesting because it attempts to marry the three disciplines of art, history, and writing – though not as successfully as it could have.
     I find the amount of attention given to Egypt’s role in writing curious, however, as its role in the development of the written word is not near as influential as other pre-Hellenic cultures, such as Sumeria (where writing is believed to have originated in 3200 BCE) and Phoenicia (which is credited with development of the alphabet).  Though the city of Alexandria was indeed renowned for its library, that city was founded in the 4th century BCE by Greeks.  The Egyptians of the 3rd millennium BCE (from which Seated Scribe and the pyramids date) had comparatively little influence on writing.  Then again, comparatively few movies have been made about the Sumerians and Phoenicians.
     Egypt notwithstanding, the mural definitely has a Western focus, due to the sizes and placement of the Far Eastern structures in the mural.  The Greek columns, which are only part of a building, seem to dwarf both the Chinese and Indian (?) constructs.  Though Western writing seems to be the dominant theme of the work, the East is at least represented to some degree.  One could even argue that the globe in the painting serves to represent other cultures not even depicted on the mural.
     Murray I think was a rather dull choice to depict in the mural.  Though dictionaries are important, I think Shakespeare was much more influential on the history of writing.  Shakespeare is not only the most quoted author of all time, but he also created new words and expressions, and inspired more people to put quill to parchment than any mere editor ever did.  I’ve yet to hear of anyone doing “Murray in the Park”!
     The bookshelf at the bottom is an interesting way to include other influential people, as well as a creative way to sign the work.  Some of the names I’m not familiar with, but one that I found rather curious was that of Alexander the Great.  To my knowledge, Alexander III of Macedonia was a bit too busy to be bothered with writing books.  However, he was responsible for the aforementioned library at Alexandria, and for the spread Hellenic culture throughout the rest of the known world, providing the basis for Western culture as we know it today.  I was also unsure why mathematician Alan Turing was listed, other than perhaps for his being known as the “Father of Computing.”  And just who in the hell is “Mistress of the Books”?
     Another peculiar thing I noticed about the row of books was that a few names are represented more than once, such as Champollian (the first Westerner to decipher heiroglyphs) and author George Bernard Shaw.  If these individuals had only been listed once, perhaps there would have been room for other worthy personages, such as Andrew Carnegie (who funded hundreds of American libraries), Johannes Gutenberg (credited with inventing movable type), or journalist Hunter S Thompson.
     In closing, I do find this mural enjoyable and interesting on some levels, and can appreciate the amount of work needed for its creation.  However, the little mistakes and lack of thought put into its conception prevent me from thinking of it as anything more than that which it is - the work of amateurs.

Related Links:
IUS Art Department's Mural Painting Page