Moessel Received the Commission
It is not clear how Moessel first received the Field Museum commission at the age of 66
(Alvey 2-5). After conversing with Armand Esai, a current museum archivist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, I found out that not many records were kept at the museum regarding the commission because it was through the WPA, and therefore was a coordinated effort. The museum did not feel the need to document the initiation of the work because it would be in the WPA’s hands. Where this documentation is now, however, is unknown to the museum at this time [6]. Whatever the reason, Moessel received the commission from the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration for the Field Museum in 1938 (Gray 396). The commission originally called for 13 murals, but multiplied into a staggering 18 by the end of the project. Initially, Moessel “proposed to paint the 13 murals for $15,000, noting they ‘would of course cost in normal times $75-100,000.’” However, there is no official record of how much Moessel was actually paid in total for his efforts (Alvey 2-5).
Why Were These Murals Made?
“The museum envisioned the murals as an illustrative adjunct... [and a demonstration
of] ... the various aspects of the economic and social dimensions of food plants... [being shown in]... the botany displays in what was then known as Hall 25, the Hall of Food Plants” (Alvey 2-5). The extensive project was completed “under supervision of museum’s curator of botany and with the museum’s extensive resources for research, the german-born artist Julius Moessel spent two and a half years creating detailed depictions of agricultural practices in many regions” (Gray 396). Twelve of Moessel’s murals illustrate the production and preparation processes of agricultural vegetation; four murals illustrate the transportation, dispersal, and commerce of the Kaddatz 3