How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it..
Let’s study art history together.
Word of Life (mural) a/k/a “Touchdown Jesus”
Artist
Millard Sheets
Year
1964
Medium
Mural (granite)
Movement
Cubism and Impressionism
Dimensions
134 feet (41 m) tall and 68 feet (21 m) wide
Location
South Bend, Indiana, Notre Dame University, Hesburgh Library
There is one piece of religious art that most irreligious or unreligious Americans are likely quite familiar with, and have witnessed on television innumerable times – provided that they are fans of American college football.
However, I’d wager that most people familiar with this famous piece of art don’t actually know the real name of the piece, who made it, what it symbolizes, or the type of building it adorns. They can tell you it’s visible from inside of Notre Dame Stadium. I will endeavor to help you know more about it now. You can share what you learn, casually as though it’s common knowledge, when you next get together with your buddies to watch a Fighting Irish home game.
The artwork depicts a procession of figures representing Christian saints, thinkers, teachers, and writers, a topic that connected to the idea of the library. Figures were selected from different centuries and places to convey the concept of the Catholic Church’s historical continuity. At the top of the procession the central figure is the resurrected Jesus Christ, conceived as the great teacher and master, and the fountain of knowledge contained in the library. The artwork, which is titled Word of Life, is 134 feet (41 m) tall and 68 feet (21 m) wide.
The mural’s image of Jesus, visible from Notre Dame’s football stadium, has arms raised in the same fashion as a referee signifying a touchdown. From this similarity came the mural’s nickname, Touchdown Jesus. A stadium expansion partially obscures views of the mural from the field.
History
The library’s exterior in 2011
The idea of a mural on the facade had been conceived early, in part for the need to decorate the large structure which otherwise would have seemed dull and resembled a large grain silo. Hesburgh was also inspired by the mosaic murals of the Central Library at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, which he had visited in April 1955.
When the library opened in 1963, the mural had not yet been installed. American artist Millard Sheets was commissioned to create a work large enough to cover the entire side of the library facing Notre Dame’s football stadium. Fr. Theodore Hesburgh suggested that the theme should be saints and scholars through the ages. The artwork cost $200,000 and was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Howard V. Phalin of Winnetka, Illinois. Installation took place in the spring of 1964; the dedication ceremony was held on May 7, 1964. The mural is composed of 324 panels. It consists of 81 different stones from 16 countries in 171 finishes that includes 46 granites and syenites, 10 gabbros and labradorites, 4 metamorphic gneisses, 12 serpentines, 4 crystalline marbles, and 5 limestones. The granite was sourced from the Cold Spring Granite Company in Cold Spring, MN. The stones for the mural were laid out in the Saint Boniface High School gymnasium while they were staging and awaiting transport to Ohio.
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I’ve seen it in person–it takes your breath away.
I have no doubt that it does. I hope to make it up to Indiana at some point so I can see it.