Strasenburgh Wall scrapbook

In 1958, artist Frans Wildenhain was commissioned by drug company R.J. Strasenburgh to create a mural for the lobby of its laboratory in Henrietta, New York. The ceramic mosaic mural, depicting a pharmaceutical theme from its alchemistic beginnings to modern chemistry, was relief set into a 104 foot long curved wall, and installed the following year. Wildenhain created the mural at his studio in Bushnell's Basin.

German born potter Frans Wildenhain joined the faculty at the Rochester Insitute of Technology's School for American Craftsmen in 1950 where, along with Hobart Cowles, he helped create the legendary ceramics program. Wildenhain was trained at the Bauhaus in Germany with such giants as Josef Albers, Paul Klee, and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. In addition to more traditional forms of pottery, Wildenhain created large ceramic murals for display in public spaces, such as the wall in the lobby of RIT’s Ingle Auditorium. Wildenhain retired as Professor Emeritus in 1970. He died in 1980 in Rochester.