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Two “triptychs” painted by William de Leftwich Dodge were mounted on the walls of the archway beneath the Tower of Jewels. Each triptych measured 92 feet in length and was 12 feet high. Because they were to be hung nearly 40 feet off the ground the proportion of the figures were elongated as a means of compensating for the foreshortening which occurs when viewed from below. The central panel on the west wall was entitled, Atlantic and Pacific, flanked by Discovery and The Purchase. Opposite, on the east wall, were Gateway of All Nations with Achievement and Labor Crowned on either side. Taken together, these murals were an allegorical evocation of the history, labor, and achievement of the Panama Canal. Five of these panels are currently rolled, wrapped, and stored in the basement of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.
The Purchase, on long term loan to the Veteran’s Home of California in Yountville, CA is, at present, in storage in the basement of that facility's Lincoln Theatre. In 1967, an electrical fire consumed a portion of the wooden crate in which this and other murals were being stored causing damage to the lower edge of these murals. Some of them sustained further damage in 1995 when water from an unusually heavy storm leaked into the subterranean precincts drenching the tube the canvasses were stored in. The Friends of Lincoln Theatre are currently seeking donations for a major renovation of this theatre -- which includes plans for rehanging some of the murals currently stored in its basement -- that will necessitate the removal of all the murals housed there. However, at the time of this writing, adequate, temporary, off-site storage for their holdings had not yet been identified or arranged for.
© 2001, Steve Sanders, Remnants of a Dream |
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