The following key to the 55 images of the mural has been derived from conversations with the artist and research into his printed sources. It is intended as a basis for individual observation, scrutiny, and interpretation.
Left Panel
The main theme of the left section of the mural is the human brain.
Panels L-1 through L-5, and L-10, contain Mullican's own ideograms, seemingly familiar signs that actually represent ideas specific to the artist's own system of thought.
The large central panel is a view of a 19th-century English roundhouse, a storage space for locomotives. The roundhouse is a common image in Mullican's work. The artist juxtaposes images from Diderot's Encyclopédie within the roundhouse, transforming it into a metaphor for the brain.
Panels L-12 to L-16 refer to the physiological systems through which humans produce and receive oral and written language.[i]
L-1: Ideogram for Brain or Subjectivity
L-2: Ideogram for Signs
L-3: Ideogram for World Framed
L-4: Ideogram for World Unframed
L- 5: Ideogram for Elements or Materiality
L-6a: Mullican's sign representing his spiritual view of the universe
L-6b, L-7: Alchemical images meant to represent spiritual views of the universe
L-8, L 9: Signs representing scientific views of the universe.
L-10: Repetition of "Brain" or "Subject"
L-11: Mullican's Roundhouse, with images of a theater representing creativity on the left, and a distillery representing analytical thinking on the right. Both images come from Diderot's Encyclopédie.
L-12: X-ray of a human head producing sound
L-13: Waves of human speech
L-14: The larynx
L-15: Diagram of the inner ear
L-16: Diagram of the eye
Left Center
The theme of the left center panel is language.
All of the images from this panel are taken from the 18th-century Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean d'Alembert.[ii]
LC-1: Index of naval flags bearing different crests, from the Encyclopédiesection Marine, Pavillons
LC-2: Index of figures relating to angles and geometry, taken from the Géométrie section of the Encyclopédie
LC-3: An unknown image from the Encyclopédie
LC-4: Key to Chinese characters found under the section of the Encyclopédie Anciens et Modernes, in which Diderot anthologizes writing characters from over fifteen different alphabet systems
LC-5: The "Art of Writing" in which Mullican reconciles art and the written word
LC-6: Image from a series of Exercices Préparatoires (Preparatory Exercises) in which Diderot reproduces the basic elements and shapes that compose the French written alphabet
LC-7: From the Encyclopédie, section Alphabets, Anciens et Modernes, which compares writing from ancient to modern (18th-century) times.
Right Center
The main theme of the right center panel is "the world unframed," by which Mullican refers to non-anthologized knowledge.
The images in this section of the mural all deal with geographical location, ranging from the cosmos to the specific location where the mural's viewers are standing. All of the images from RC-3 to RC-13 are taken from David Haward Bain's A College on the Hill.[iii]
RC-1: Vermont petroglyph, a prehistoric drawing in rock
RC-2: Illustration of people around a campfire, an image intended to represent Vermont
RC-3: Bird's eye view of Middlebury in 1886
RC-4: Stereograph image of the town of Middlebury from 1874; most of these buildings have since been destroyed by fire
RC-5: Aerial view of campus taken in 1968 as two frame houses were being demolished in order to build the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Building
RC-6: Image meant to convey the "typical" view of Middlebury, looking upward at Mead Chapel
RC-7: 1901 postcard image of the recently built Warner Science Hall
RC-8: Image from a 1920s postcard of new Le Château
RC-9: 1940s postcard image of Middlebury's Main Street
RC-10: 1912 image from a tinted postcard of the newly built McCullough Gymnasium
RC-11: 1940s view of the recently completed Gifford Hall, from a tinted postcard
RC-12: 1950s image of Battell Hall after the completion of the central addition linking the two previously separate structures
RC-13: 1940s image from a tinted postcard showing the new Munroe Hall
RC-14: Mullican's sign representing World
RC-15, RC-16: Architectural floor plan of the ground floor and upper level of the library building where the mural is located
Right Panel
The main theme of the right panel is the physical elements, or materiality. Many images on this panel are derived from Diderot's Encyclopédie.
Panels R-3 through R-8 represent evolution. Each panel is a compilation of individual drawings from the section Historie Naturelle of the Encyclopédie.
R-1: Abstracted diagram devised by the artist to represent the recycling of water on earth, including such processes as precipitation, evaporation, and condensation
R-2: An astrological chart of the night of October 8, 2004-- the date of the dedication of the new library
R-3: Mammalian animals and birds
R-4: Reptilian, amphibian, and marine animals
R-5, R 6: Insects
R-7: Plant life
R-8: Mollusks and shells
R-9: Diagram of rivers
R-10: Diagram of mountains
R-11: Repeated from L 5, this Mullican ideogram signifies "elements" or "materiality"
R-12 to R-16: Diagrams taken from the Encyclopédie section Histoire Naturelle, Crystallisations, showing geological and crystal formations
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[i] Crystal, David. The Cambridge Enclycopedia of Language. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
[ii] Diderot Encyclopedia, the Complete Illustrations, 1762-1777. New York: Abrams, 1978.
[iii] Bain, David Haward. The College on the Hill: A Browser's History for the Bicentennial, Middlebury College, 1800-2000. Middlebury: Middlebury College Press, 1999.
This Key to the Imagery of the library mural was prepared for CAPP, the Committee for Art in Public Places, by Museum Intern Bethany Holmes, Class of 2007.