Perhaps his work the WPA helped fuel Sheets' later interest large-scale public projects. Sheets also worked with the New Deal's WPA during the Great Depression, helping hire artists and overseeing public projects like the 1937 construction of a 12,000-square-foot art gallery in Los Angeles. Sheets became important to California's watercolor movement by the 1930s, becoming the president of the California Water Color Society in 1946. Stamper of Notre Dame's School of Architecture also mentioned seeing the influence of Impressionist and Cubist styles in Sheets' mosaic in a short video produced by the school about it. Looking at Sheets' Notre Dame mosaic, I can see a bit of that famous artist's influence on Sheets. He studied art in Paris in 19, where he met artist Henri Matisse. Sheets began painting as a child and exhibiting his watercolor paintings by the time he was a teenager.

Mosaic as reflected in pool in front of the library School officials commissioned California artist, educator, arts administrator, and architect Millard Sheets to create the artwork.

The school honors and celebrates its Catholic identity, so Father Hesburgh suggested using the blank space to honor saints and scholars throughout history as an appropriate way to reference the knowledge contained in the library, as well as representing the spiritual roots of Notre Dame itself. The University of Notre Dame traces its history back to Catholic missionaries arriving to Indiana during the early 1800s. Hesburgh, a long-time Notre Dame president for whom university officials renamed the library in 1987, even joked that visitors could mistake the blank wall for something like a grain elevator. University officials envisioned the library as a major focal point on campus, but its blank facade presented a bland face to visitors.ДЇather Theodore M. College football fans may catch a glimpse of the University of Notre Dame's 'Touchdown Jesus' during televised games, but you must see the huge mosaic created by artist Millard Sheets for the university library's facade to fully appreciate its beauty and meaning.

Touchdown jesus notre dame