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Violet Oakley: Building the House of Wisdom

Exhibition January 21, 2018 − February 21, 2025
In 1911, Violet Oakley (1874 - 1961) created the wall cycle "Building the House of Wisdom»For the central hall of the Charlton Yarnalla mansion. The murals were painted on canvases that were inserted into the architectural structure.

When the Yarnalla House was reconstructed in the early 1970s, the frescoes were rescued and brought to the Woodmer Museum.

Three massive semicircular lunettes represent the age of a person from childhood to adolescence and maturity. Six octagonal panels were installed in the arches above the lunettes, and they tell stories from the life of Hercules and American inventions. Pendants that connected the lunettes to the dome show the progress of architecture over the centuries.