The completion of Millard Sheets’ Word of Life mural in the spring semester of 1964 marked the end of a campaign driven by inspiration, perseverance, innovation and foresight.
The first stirrings of the mural began in Mexico where Father Hesburgh was impressed by the colossal scale and scope of the Central Library mural at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. One of the mural’s themes touches upon the necessity of secularization in the pursuit of academic freedom. Father Hesburgh sought to provide the counterpoint that Catholic identity was not only compatible with the pursuit of truth and knowledge, but was inseparable from it. “Christ the Teacher” became the perfect motif with which to communicate this idea.
Howard (ND ’28) and Evangeline Phalin stepped forward as the mural’s benefactors. Howard served as a chairman of the board for Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, publisher of World Book Encyclopedia. The Phalins’ life-long love of books, according the Library’s Access newsletter, and Howard’s ties to the University made them a perfect part of the mural’s story. With funding in place, the project was able to advance.
The firm behind the library’s construction, Ellerbe and Company (Ellerbe Becket), proposed Millard Sheets as an artist capable of making Father Hesburgh’s vision a reality. At the time, Sheets was involved in a similar project for the Detroit Public Library. His The River of Knowledge mosaic depicts knowledge flowing like a river through the great thinkers of the ages. The mosaic’s motif, along with Ellerbe and Company’s previous experience in working with Sheets, secured the commission. In a 1964 interview with Scholastic magazine, Sheets explained how the Memorial Library’s (Hesburgh Library) motif developed: “The theme, of course, was suggested by the Notre Dame administration. What they asked me to do was to suggest in a great processional the idea of a never-ending line of great scholars, thinkers, and teachers. I put Christ at the top with the disciples to suggest that He is the great teacher.” Once the design was approved, Sheets prepared a full-scale cartoon of the mural for the University’s approval. (A fragment of this cartoon is currently on display in the Hesburgh Library Concourse.)
The extreme heat and cold, a hallmark of Indiana weather, made the choice of appropriate materials vitally important if the mural were to last. Engineers recommended granite over all other materials. Sheets put stonebrokers and friends to work shortly thereafter searching for the variety of tones necessary to complete the mural properly. Cutting the stone was the work of the Cold Spring Granite Company in Cold Spring, Minnesota. In addition to working with Sheets on matching stone textures and colors, the workers were tasked with developing a way to cut the granite on a curve, an accomplishment that was considered unprecedented at the time.
The scale of such a task remains staggering. In all, 81 stones from 16 different countries were traced, cut, ground and polished into more than 6,000 individual pieces. This massive jigsaw puzzle was grouped into 324 panels that were individually winched into place. Much of the installation was performed under the cover of a hanging curtain to preserve the impact of a large “reveal,” though strong winds removed the curtain prior to the Library’s Dedication Mass.
The monumentality of Word of Life has often made it difficult to categorize. In his 1964 American Artist article about Millard Sheets, Frederic Whitaker says, “It cannot be called a mosaic, for the parts are so enormous.” Though speaking to its physical parts at the time, Whitaker would be hard-pressed to convey, in a word, the enormity of contributions made by its visionaries, benefactors, artists, stonecutters and engineers—all of which fit together perfectly to make the world-famous Word of Life mural a reality.
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