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Object lesson: Art Deco bas-relief panel

The origins of the artistry on our 1940s and ’50s era buildings is a mystery.

Object lesson: Art Deco bas-relief panel

Zeus, the Greek god of sky and thunder, hovers over the north and south entrances of Winton-Scott Hall.

Object lesson: Art Deco bas-relief panel

The origins of the artistry on our 1940s and ’50s era buildings is a mystery.

That’s Zeus, the Greek god of sky and thunder that hovers over the north and south entrances of Winton-Scott Hall.

Zeus was considered a powerful and fearful god, credited with bringing order out of chaos. Yet the panels, created when the building was erected in 1942, at the end of the Art Deco period, also feature some rather happy and inattentive dinosaurs, seemingly unaware of the fierce god in the sky above them.

Art history Professor Mark Thistlethwaite says that the images are so different, he wonders if they were created by different people. “The dinosaurs are styled in an almost cartoon-like way.” Thistlethwaite also notes that the Winton-Scott Zeus is very similar to the famous Zeus figure that was installed above the entrance to 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City in the 1930s.

There is also that strategically placed tree — possibly a symbol of the oak trees Zeus held to be sacred.

Fort Worth architect Ames Fender, grandson of the building’s architect Wyatt C. Hedrick, says art on buildings of the era typically was symbolic of the building’s use and thus may be an homage to science. The building originally housed the biology and geology departments.
Paul Koeppe, a Fort Worth attorney whose late father did much of the artwork for architect Hedrick’s buildings, says the scene appears to be symbolic of the power of nature, but he does not have any records that indicate the artist’s intent.

Hedrick also designed Dan Rogers Hall, built in 1957 and featuring cast-stone murals representing management and production; and Ed Landreth Hall, which was completed in 1959 and is graced with various stone castings as well.

But the identity of the artist and his or her intent remains a mystery.

If you have information about the art, contact tcumagazine@tcu.edu, or 817.257.5059.