Music of the Plains (mural study, Kilgore, Texas, Post Office, 1939) by Xavier Gonzalez. This New Deal artwork features a cowboy of Mexican heritage serenading a woman, symbolizing the deep Hispanic cultural roots in Kilgore's identity. The original study is housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
From 1934 to 1943, the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury commissioned murals in post office buildings across the country. Part of the New Deal, the stated objective of commissioning United States post office murals was to secure artwork that met high artistic standards[2] for public buildings, where it would be accessible to all people.[3] The murals were intended to boost the morale of the American people suffering from the effects of the Depression by depicting uplifting subjects the people knew and loved.[4] Murals produced through the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (1934–1943) were funded as a part of the cost of the construction of new post offices, with one percent of the cost set aside for artistic enhancements.[5] Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States.[6] Almost 850 artists were commissioned to paint 1,371 murals, most of which were installed in post offices;[5] 162 of the artists were women and three were African American.[5] The Treasury Relief Art Project (1935–1938), which provided artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings, produced a smaller number of post office murals.[2] TRAP was established with funds from the Works Progress Administration. The Section supervised the creative output of TRAP, and selected a master artist for each project. Assistants were then chosen by the artist from the rolls of the WPA Federal Art Project.[7]:62–63
Artists were asked to paint in an "American scene" style, depicting ordinary citizens in a realistic manner. Abstract and modern art styles were discouraged. Artists were also encouraged to produce works that would be appropriate to the communities where they were to be located and to avoid controversial subjects.[6] Projects were closely scrutinized by the Section for style and content, and artists were paid only after each stage in the creative process was approved.[7]
The Section and the Treasury Relief Art Project were overseen by Edward Bruce, who had directed the Public Works of Art Project (1933–1934). They were commission-driven public work programs that employed artists to beautify American government buildings, strictly on the basis of quality.[3][7]:58–59 This contrasts with the work-relief mission of the Federal Art Project (1935–1943) of the Works Progress Administration, the largest of the New Deal art projects. So great was its scope and cultural impact that the term "WPA" is often mistakenly used to describe all New Deal art, including the U.S. post office murals.[3][7]:63–64 "New Deal artwork" is a more accurate term to describe the works of art created under the federal art programs of that period.[8]
The murals are the subject of efforts by the United States Postal Service to preserve and protect them. This is particularly important and problematical as some of them have disappeared or deteriorated. Some are ensconced in buildings that are worth far less than the artwork.[9]
Five-panel mural addressing Federal governments public works and arts programs as efforts to help the community in times of economic emergency. It was painted for $2,000.[25]
1234O'Connor, Francis V. (Autumn 1969). "The New Deal Art Projects in New York". The American Art Journal. 1 (2). Kennedy Galleries, Inc.: 58–79. doi:10.2307/1593876. JSTOR1593876.
↑"Arthur Kerrick". Facebook. October 23, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2020. Arthur Kerrick, a Minnesota artist and member of 1937 WPA Alaska Art Project, received a commission in 1942 from the Section of Fine Arts to create a mural for the courtroom in the Anchorage Historic Federal Building.
↑Peter Berningham. The New Deal in the Southwest: Arizona and New Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Museum of Art, 1980.
12345Park, Marlene; Markowitz, Gerald E. (1984). Democratic vistas: post offices and public art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN0-87722-348-3. OCLC10877506.
12"Geographical Dictionary of Murals and Sculptures commissioned by Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency" in American Art Annual. Washington, DC: American Federation of Arts, 1941, pp. 623–658.
↑Kathryn A. Flynn and Andrew L. Connors. Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 1995, pp. 101–102.
↑American Art Annual, Geographical Dictionary Of Murals and Sculptures commissioned by Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency. The American Federation of Arts, 1941 pp 623 – 658
Marling, Karal A. Wall-to-wall America: A Cultural History of Post-Office Murals in the Great Depression. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982.
Mecklenburg, Virginia M. The Public As Patron: A History of the Treasury Department Mural Program. College Park: University of Maryland, Dept. of Art, 1979.
Puschendorf, L. R. Nebraska's Post Office Murals: Born of the Depression, Fostered by the New Deal. Lincoln, NE: Nebraska State Historical Society, 2012.
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