History and Description

The murals located in George Washington Hall and Monroe Hall were painted between 1940 and 1955 by then Mary Washington College art professor Emil Schnellock, hence the “Schnellock Murals”, with assistance from students and faculty. Schnellock served as a faculty member at Mary Washington College from 1938 to 1958.

Condition & Materials

Since the last restoration in the 1970’s, the murals in Monroe Hall have deteriorated with some in poor condition with faded imagery and chipping while the murals in George Washington Hall remain in relatively good condition.  The difference in condition can be partially explained by the materials and techniques used. The materials used to create each building’s murals are distinctly different with George Washington Hall being oil on canvas and an egg tempera technique applied directly to the plaster in Monroe Hall.  Murals are considered “part of the fabric of the building” as they are affixed directly to the walls, so they cannot be easily removed or replaced without damaging both the murals and the building itself.

Content & Imagery

Much like the distinct differences in materials used, the murals differ in content and imagery depicted on the walls of each building. Images of the murals are documented in the report “The Murals of the University of Mary Washington: Emil Schnellock in collaboration with faculty and students” by the UMW’s Center for Historic Preservation. The full report was too large to include on the website, so its contents have been extracted into multiple parts:

The murals in George Washington Hall, located in the front foyer of the building, depict student life at Mary Washington College in the 1940s. These images portray students engaged in various club activities and in pursuit of different fields of study, as well as students and faculty at a graduation ceremony. Many of the people in the murals represent specific individuals who have been identified, including students, faculty, and staff. These murals largely portray young, white, middle-class women in pursuit of an education under white, male professors. Two exceptions to this include an image of Robert E. Lee on the page of an open book and the image of Wallace Alsop, who was one of only two African American staff who worked at Mary Washington College in the mid-20th century. The likeness of Alsop is physically segregated from the rest of the images on the left hand side of the northern foyer wall.

The murals in Monroe Hall were originally painted on the second and third floors, however the murals on the third floor were covered during the 2008-2010 renovation of the building. The Monroe murals are much different in theme than the ones located in George Washington Hall; consisting of state and territory flags and seals and the “Founding Fathers” in colonial-era Virginia rather than depictions of life at Mary Washington. Many of the seals and flags depicted are not director copies or representations of the official state imagery; rather the murals are inspired by state seals and flags and some are not exactly correct. Within these murals are also representations of Indigenous peoples as well as depictions of James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington at their plantation homes around Virginia, and James Madison.