Murals

Barry Faulkner painted these murals in 1928. The art deco murals depict the four hemispheres-western, eastern, polar, and celestial. Each mural has a map and figures representing the hemispheres. The figures for the eastern hemisphere represent Eqypt and India, while the figures for the western hemisphere represent the Mississippi and Amazon Rivers. For the polar hemisphere, the north wind is shown blowing back the ships that are attempting to cross the arctic regions. The figures for the polar hemisphere represent death and fame hovering over Robert Peary and Richard Byrd, who explored the Polar Regions. The celestial hemisphere is represented by a number of constellations together with the ancient astronomers, Ptolemy and Copernicus, in the corner. Because Ptolemy is squinting through a spyglass, the astronomy faculty were quite concerned at the possible ridicule the university would encounter, but no further objections were raised. The two female figures represent Day and Night. The murals are located above the marble staircase on the second floor.