University of Wyoming: Wyoming Union Mural – Laramie WY

Description

The Wyoming Union [student union] building on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie houses a striking example of New Deal artwork created by Lynn Faucett for the then-recently completed building.

“Among the last of the WPA murals done in Wyoming, and one that is still in place, is the seven by twenty-eight foot panel on the east wall of the University Student Union in Laramie. It depicts the “western welcome” arranged by students and faculty for incoming University President A. G. Crane in 1922. In a mock hold-up and kidnapping, students in cowboy regalia intercepted Crane’s automobile outside Laramie, ushered the dignitary and his family into an old stage coach, and escorted the entourage to the campus. The artist included in his painting full-length portraits of prominent faculty members as well as those of Crane and his family. In the background are various campus buildings added to the campus during Crane’s administration. The painting documents in a realistic way both an occasion and an epoch in the school’s history and thus spoke directly to its audience. Crane was still chief executive as the mural was unveiled in March, 1940. The artist was Lynn Fausett of Price, Utah. Lowry had worked out the details by which Fausett was temporarily assigned to the Laramie task from the Utah Art Project. The painting was allocated to the University for a cost of about $600.”

“Originally hung in the student lounge and later in the grand staircase of the union, the mural was moved to its present location in the west ballroom in 2003, following restoration funded by the class of 1958.”