The University News

Issue date: 1/12/09 Section: Culture

Media Credit: Amy Wright Cervantes' "Don Quixote" serves as inspiration for modern mural.

Note from the Editor: With our lives as busy as they are, it comes as no surprise that things around campus go unnoticed. But it's a shame that we're missing the wealth of art housed in our very own buildings. This is the first in a series about art around campus, featuring many beautiful works from the lounges in the University Center to the stairwells of Haag Hall and sculptures on the grounds.

While many of us have idly passed it by running up the stairs late to class, the Luis Quintanilla mural on the second floor of Haag Hall has a vibrant history that shouldn't be forgotten.

Entitled "Don Quixote in the Modern World," this fresco was painted entirely on-site from September 1940 to June 1941, when Quintanilla was employed as Artist in Residence at then University of Kansas City.

"He was really quite famous when he came," said Bruce Bubacz, Curators Professor of Philosophy and Law at UMKC. "One of the histories of UKC is that a lot of artists and academics from Europe who were trying to escape the fascists came to the United States, and a number of them were hired here at UKC. He was one of them."

Though here for only a short time, Quintanilla certainly left a lasting impression on the university. His mural remains a part of our campus today.

The series of six large panels cover 375 square feet of wall space and tell the beautiful story of Don Quixote with a modern flair.

"A lot of the characters are in modern dress, and even when you look at it today, their clothing doesn't look like it's from the 1940s. It could be any time," said Tonya Crowford, Senior Archives Specialist for UMKC.

The mural is an idealistic portrayal of the world of Don Quixote. He is shown in the midst of people he most admires, from poets and artists to beautiful women and philosophers.

In fact, many of those people are representations of students, faculty and staff here at the university. Don Quixote himself is modeled after Alexander Cappon, then dean of the English Department. Even former Chancellor Clarence Decker finds his way into the mural.

Though this beautiful mural is clearly a work of significance today, it was not always thought so by everyone.

Mary Bell Decker, wife of Clarence Decker, mentions a less enthusiastic response to Quintanilla's work in her book "A Place of Light: The Story of a University Presidency," co-written with her husband.

At some point after the mural had been completed, a woman who had been attending a university lecture in the Liberal Arts building (what is now Haag Hall) complained to Chancellor Decker about the "monstrosities" filling the lobby.

Decker replied if she gave the university three million dollars, he would "demand that the Trustees order [him] to have them taken out and stored for a generation that will appreciate them. I don't know what their actual market value is today, but I am sure they will be priceless some future day," said Decker.

Decker was right. These priceless murals not only liven up our hallways, but also maintain the history of this university from generations past and mark a specific moment in time forever to be remembered.

Thanks in no small part to Chancellor Decker and other appreciators of art at the university, we should count ourselves lucky to hold onto this small bit of history on our humble campus.

awright@unews.com

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