United States post office murals are notable examples of

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

art produced during the years 1934–1943. They were commissioned through a competitive process by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

. Some 1,400

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

were created for federal post office buildings in more than 1,300 U.S. cities. Murals still extant are the subject of efforts by the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

to preserve and protect them. In 2019, the USPS issued a sheet of 10

Forever stamps Non-denominated postage is postage intended to meet a certain postage rate that retains full validity for that intended postage rate even after the rate is increased. It does not show a monetary value, or Denomination (postage stamp), denominatio ...

commemorating the murals.

History

As one of the projects in the

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in the United States, the

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...

(1933–1934) was developed to bring artist workers back into the job market and assure the American public that better financial times were on the way. In 1933, nearly $145 million in

public funds Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...

was appropriated for the construction of federal buildings, such as

courthouse A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

s and other public structures, nationwide. Under the direction of the Public Works of Art Project, the agency oversaw the production of 15,660 works of art by 3,750 artists. These included 700 murals on public display. With the ending of the Public Works of Art Project in the summer of 1934, it was decided that the success of the program should be extended by founding the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

(renamed the Section of Fine Arts in 1938) under the U.S. Treasury Department, through Treasury Secretary

Morgenthau Morgenthau is a German surname meaning "morning dew". Notable people with the surname include: *Elinor Morgenthau (1891–1949), American Democratic party activist *Hans Morgenthau (1904–1980), German-born international relations theorist * Henry ...

's executive order of October 14, 1934. The Section of Painting and Sculpture was initiated to commission 1,400 murals in federal post offices buildings in more than 1,300 cities across America. The Section focused on reaching as many American citizens as possible. Since the local post office seemed to be the most frequented government building by the public, the Section requested that the

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s, approximately

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

s on canvas, be placed on the walls of the newly constructed post offices exclusively. It was recommended that 1% of the money budgeted for each post office be set aside for the creation of the murals. The

Treasury Relief Art Project The Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) was a New Deal arts program that commissioned visual artists to provide artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings during the Great Depression in the United States. A project of the United States De ...

(1935–1938), which provided artistic decoration for existing Federal buildings, produced a smaller number of post office murals. TRAP was established with funds from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. 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 The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

. The Section and the Treasury Relief Art Project were overseen by

Edward Bruce Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick ( Norman French: ; mga, Edubard a Briuis; Modern Scottish Gaelic: gd, Eideard or ; – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 st ...

, who had directed the Public Works of Art Project. They were commission-driven public work programs that employed artists to beautify American government buildings, strictly on the basis of quality. This contrasts with the work-relief mission of the

(1935–1943) of the

, 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. "

New Deal artwork New Deal artwork is an umbrella term used to describe the creative output organized and funded by the Roosevelt administration’s New Deal response to the Great Depression. This work produced between 1933 and 1942 ranges in content and form f ...

" is a more accurate term to describe the works of art created under the federal art programs of that period. The murals are the subject of efforts by the U.S. Postal Service to preserve and protect them. This is particularly important and problematical as some of them have disappeared or deteriorated. Some are installed in buildings that are worth far less than the artwork.

Process

Whereas the Public Works of Art Project paid artists hourly wages, the Section of Fine Arts program awarded contracts to artists based on works entered in both regional and national

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

s. For this purpose, the country was divided into 16 regions. Artists submitted sketches anonymously to a committee of their peers for judging. The committees, composed of

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

s, fellow artists and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s, selected the finest works. These were then sent, along with the artists' names in sealed envelopes, to the Section of Fine Arts for ultimate selection. This anonymity was to ensure that all competing artists had an equal opportunity of winning a commission. However, many local painters felt they were being kept out of the process, with the majority of contracts going to the better known artists. Artists were asked to paint in an "American scene" style, depicting ordinary citizens in a realistic manner.

Abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

social realism Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structure ...

, and

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

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. 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.

Controversies

The selection of out-of-state artists sometimes caused controversy, such as

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

s of rural people being portrayed merely as hicks and hayseeds and not having the murals express their cultural values and

work ethic Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination o ...

s. Many residents of small towns, most notably in the Southern states, resented the portrayal of rural lifestyles by artists who had never visited the areas where their artwork would be displayed. The controversy was of particularly acute in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, where 19 post offices received murals, with two post offices, one in Berryville, Carroll County and another in

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

Drew County Drew County is a county located in the southeast region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,509, making it the 39th most populous of Arkansas's 75 counties. The county seat and largest city is Monticello. ...

, receiving

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. For seven decades following the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Arkansas had been perceived as the epitome of

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

and

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

by the rest of the nation. Many Arkansans had dealt with hardship and tribulation on a daily basis and the coming of the Depression had not made life easier. Although the sketches of such renowned artists as Thomas Hart Benton and Joseph P. Vorst were based on actual events and people encountered during their travels across the state, they sometimes focused on the worst aspects of life in these rural towns. This was not the legacy that Arkansans wished to leave their children and grandchildren. They wanted the murals to give hope to the younger generation in overcoming adversity, and provide inspiration for a brighter future with better things to come. In some instances, artists were asked to submit multiple drawings before being accepted by the community. When approval was given by the local residents on the artists’ final sketches, work on the murals proceeded, much to the satisfaction of all those involved.

Notable artists

Ida Abelman Ida York Abelman (1910–2002) was an American artist and muralist in the 1930s. Abelman was known as a Social Realist. She was born Ida York and lived her early life in New York City. At the age of 19 she married Larry Abelman, also an artist. ...

* Kenneth Miller Adams * Dewey Albinson *

Lee Allen Lee Allen may refer to: *Lee Allen (wrestler) (1934–2012), wrestler and coach * Lee Allen (baseball) (1915–1969), baseball historian *Lee Allen (musician) (1927–1994), saxophone player *Lee Allen (artist) Lee Allen (1910 – May 5, 2006), bor ...

Edmund Archer (artist) Edmund Archer (1904–1986) was an American artist best known for his portraits of African Americans. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, to parents who were both culturally and socially prominent in that city. Having taken an early interest i ...

Paul Theodore Arlt Paul Theodore Arlt (March 15, 1914, New York City - September 20, 2005, Rye, New York) was an American painter. Arlt graduated from Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was ...

Victor Arnautoff Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (born Uspenovka, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire, November 11, 1896 – died Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, March 22, 1979) was a Russian-American painter and professor of art. He worked in San Francisco and ...

* Ernest Hamlin Baker * Belle Baranceanu *

Edith Barry Edith Cleaves Barry (1884–1969) was an American sculptor, painter, illustrator and designer born in Boston Massachusetts. She studied at the Art Students League in New York City and with Frank DuMond and Richard E. Miller. Barry was the founder ...

Gifford Beal Gifford Beal (January 24, 1879 – February 5, 1956) was an American painter, watercolorist, printmaker and muralist. Early life Born in New York City, Gifford Beal was the youngest son in a family of six surviving children. His oldest brother R ...

Rainey Bennett Rainey Bennett (June 14, 1907 – July 26, 1998) was an American artist, illustrator and muralist. His works have been displayed in major museum art collections. Work The art collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern ...

Lester W. Bentley Lester W. Bentley (1908–1972) was an American artist from Wisconsin. He is most well known for painting portraits and murals. The two portraits he is most famous for painting are of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Ju ...

Oscar E. Berninghaus Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (October 2, 1874 – April 27, 1952) was an American artist and a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is best known for his paintings of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans, New Mexico ...

Theresa Bernstein Theresa Ferber Bernstein-Meyerowitz (March 1, 1890 – February 13, 2002) was an American artist and writer born in Kraków, in what is now Poland, and raised in Philadelphia. She received her art training in Philadelphia and New York City. Over ...

* Auriel Bessemer * Edward Biberman *

George Biddle George Biddle (January 24, 1885 – November 6, 1973) was an American painter, muralist and lithographer, best known for his social realism and combat art. A childhood friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he played a major role in establi ...

* Henry Billings *

Julien Binford Julien Binford (December 25, 1908 – September 12, 1997) was an Americans, American painting, painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and then in France. Settling in Powhatan County, Virginia, he was known for his paintings of the ru ...

Emil Bisttram Emil Bisttram (1895–1976) was an American artist who lived in New York and Taos, New Mexico, who is known for his modernist work. Life and works Emil Bisttram was born in Nagylak, Hungary in 1895 (today Nădlac, Romania). When he was 11 years ...

Arnold Blanch Arnold Blanch (June 4, 1896 – October 3, 1968), was born and raised in Mantorville, Minnesota. He was an American modernism, American modernist painter, etcher, illustrator, lithographer, muralist, printmaker and art teacher. Life His modern ...

Lucile Blanch Lucile Esma Lundquist Blanch (December 31, 1895 – October 31, 1981) was an American artist, art educator, and Guggenheim Fellow. She was noted for the murals she created for the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts during the Great ...

Lucienne Bloch Lucienne Bloch (January 5, 1909 – March 13, 1999) was a Switzerland-born American artist. She was best known for her murals and for her association with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, for whom she produced the only existing photographs o ...

Acee Blue Eagle Acee Blue Eagle (17 August 1907 – 18 June 1959) was a Native American artist, educator, dancer, and Native American flute player,Wyckoff, 92 who directed the art program at Bacone College. His birth name was Alexander C. McIntosh, he also we ...

Peter Blume Peter Blume (27 October 1906 – 30 November 1992) was an American painter and sculptor. His work contained elements of folk art, Precisionism, Parisian Purism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Biography Blume, born in Smarhon, Russian Empire to a ...

Ernest L. Blumenschein Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (May 26, 1874 – June 6, 1960) was an American artist and founding member of the Taos Society of Artists. He is noted for paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico and the American Southwest. Early life and educat ...

Aaron Bohrod Aaron Bohrod (21 November 1907 – 3 April 1992) was an American artist best known for his trompe-l'œil still-life paintings. Education Bohrod was born in Chicago in 1907, the son of an emigree Bessarabian-Jewish grocer. Bohrod studied at ...

Louis Bouche Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

* Ray Boynton *

Edgar Britton Edgar Britton (1901-1982) was an American painter, muralist and sculptor born in Kearney, Nebraska. He moved to Chicago where he studied and worked with Edgar Miller. There he began painting murals, many as WPA projects. For reasons of his h ...

Manuel Bromberg Manuel Abraham Bromberg (March 6, 1917 – February 3, 2022) was an American artist and Professor Emeritus of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He was a 1946 Guggenheim Fellow. Life Bromberg was born in Centerville, Iowa, ...

Alexander Brook Alexander Brook (July 14, 1898 – February 26, 1980) was an American artist, teacher, and art critic, known for his paintings. He was active from 1910 until 1966. Biography Brook was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 14, 1898, to a Russian f ...

Conrad Buff Conrad Buff IV (born July 8, 1948) is an American film editor with more than 25 film credits since 1985. Buff is known for winning an Academy Award for Best Film Editing and an ACE Eddie Award for ''Titanic'' (1997); the awards were shared with hi ...

* Byron Burford *

Paul Cadmus Paul Cadmus (December 17, 1904 – December 12, 1999) was an American artist widely known for his egg tempera paintings of gritty social interactions in urban settings. He also produced many highly finished drawings of single nude male figures ...

Kenneth Callahan Kenneth Callahan (1905–1986) was an American painter and muralist who served as a catalyst for Northwest artists in the mid-20th century through his own painting, his work as assistant director and curator at the Seattle Art Museum, and his wr ...

Clarence Holbrook Carter Clarence Holbrook Carter (March 26, 1904 – June 4, 2000) born in Portsmouth, Ohio, was an American artist. Education Carter studied at the Cleveland School of Art from 1923 to 1927, and earned key patronage from William Millikin, the dir ...

* Daniel Celentano *

Jean Charlot Louis Henri Jean Charlot (February 8, 1898 – March 20, 1979) was a French people, French-born United States, American Painting, painter and illustrator, active mainly in Mexico and the United States. Life Charlot was born in Paris. His father, ...

Minna Citron Minna Wright Citron (October 15, 1896 – December 21, 1991) was an American painter and printmaker. Her early prints focus on the role of women, sometimes in a satirical manner, in a style known as urban realism. Early life and education ...

* Frederick Conway *

Howard Cook Howard Norton Cook (1901–1980) was an American artist, particularly known for his wood engravingsBecker, p.56. and murals. Cook spent much of the 1920s in Europe and returned to live in Taos, New Mexico. Cook first came to Taos, New Mexico in ...

Dean Cornwell Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

* John Edward Costigan *

Arthur Covey Arthur Sinclair Covey (1877–1960) was an American muralist whose paintings depicted industrial workers doing their jobs. Personal life Covey was born in Leroy, Illinois on June 13, 1877 and was married to Mary Dorothea Sale from 1908 until he ...

* Gustaf Dalstrom *

James Daugherty James Henry Daugherty (June 1, 1889 – February 21, 1974) was an American modernist painter, muralist, children's book author and illustrator. Life Daugherty was born in Asheville, North Carolina. He later lived in Indiana, Ohio, and at the ...

* Horace Day * Boris Deutsch *

Maynard Dixon Maynard Dixon (January 24, 1875 – November 11, 1946) was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art ...

* Margaret Dobson *

Stevan Dohanos Stevan Dohanos (May 18, 1907 – July 4, 1994) was an American artist and illustrator of the social realism school, best known for his ''Saturday Evening Post'' covers, and responsible for several of the ''Don't Talk'' set of World War II propagan ...

Olin Dows Stephen Olin Dows (August 14, 1904 – June 6, 1981) was a United States Army artist who served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Early life Dows was born in 1904, at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. He was the only so ...

* Ethel Edwards * Stephen Etnier *

Philip Evergood Philip Howard Francis Dixon Evergood (born Howard Blashki; 1901–1973) was an American painter, etcher, lithographer, sculptor, illustrator and writer. He was particularly active during the Depression and World War II era. Life Philip Evergoo ...

* William Dean Fausett *

Paul Faulkner Paul W. Faulkner (April 2, 1913 – January 5, 1997) was an American artist. Early life Born in North Platte, Nebraska, Faulkner received a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska and a master's degree from the Chicago Art Institute ...

Denman Fink Denman Fink (1880–1956) was an American artist and magazine illustrator. Works He worked with Phineas P. Paist and Walter De Garmo on the Douglas Entrance (1924) in Coral Gables, Florida, a property listed on the National Register of His ...

* John Kelly Fitzpatrick * Joseph Fleck *

Seymour Fogel Seymour Fogel (August 24, 1911 – December 4, 1984) was an American artist whose artistic output included social realist art early in the century, abstract art and expressionist art at mid-century, and transcendental art late in the century ...

Helen Katharine Forbes Helen Katharine Forbes (February 3, 1891 – May 27, 1945) was a Californian artist and arts educator specializing in etching, murals and painting. She is best known for western landscapes, portrait paintings, and her murals with the Treasury Sect ...

Frances Foy Frances Foy (April 11, 1890 – 1963) was an American painter, muralist, illustrator, and etcher born in Chicago, Illinois. Career Foy began studying art with Wellington J. Reynolds at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later attended the School ...

Jared French Jared French (February 4, 1905 – January 8, 1988) was an American painter who specialized in the medium of egg tempera. He was one of the artists attributed to the style of art known as magic realism along with contemporaries George Tooker ...

Arnold Friedman Arnold Friedman (February 23, 1879 – December 29, 1946) was an American Modernist painter. Life He was born in Corona, Queens, worked for the Federal Art Project and studied at the Art Students League of New York under the tutelage o ...

Lee Gatch Harry Lee Gatch (September 10, 1902 – November 10, 1968), was a twentieth-century American artist known for his lyrical abstractions and his ability to find "a fresh approach" to painting the figure and nature "through interwoven patterns of ...

Robert Franklin Gates Robert Franklin Gates (1906–1982) was an American muralist, painter, printmaker, and art professor. He was a professor at American University, between 1946 until 1975. In the 1930s, Gates was one of hundreds of artists who benefitted from the ...

Arthur Getz Arthur Kimmig Getz (May 17, 1913 – January 19, 1996) was an American illustrator best known for his fifty-year career as a cover artist for ''The New Yorker'' magazine. Between 1938 and 1988, two hundred and thirteen Getz covers appeared on ''The ...

* Paul L. Gill * Lloyd Lozes Goff *

Anne Goldthwaite Anne Goldthwaite (June 28, 1869 – January 29, 1944) was an American painter and printmaker and an advocate of women's rights and equal rights. Goldthwaite studied art in New York City. She then moved to Paris where she studied modern art, includ ...

Xavier Gonzalez Xavier Gonzalez (1898–1993) was an American artist. He was born in Almeria, Spain.Richard MeGra"Confronting Modernity: Art and Society in Louisiana" University Press of Mississippi (2008), pp. 82–89. . He lived in Argentina and Mexico for s ...

* Bertram Goodman *

Adolph Gottlieb Adolph Gottlieb (March 14, 1903 – March 4, 1974) was an American abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and printmaker. Early life and education Adolph Gottlieb, one of the "first generation" of Abstract Expressionists, was born in New Yo ...

Sante Graziani Sante Graziani (March 11, 1920 – March 15, 2005) was an American artist and art educator. He was known for his murals, which adorned many public buildings. Education Graziani was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents who had immigrated from Tus ...

* Gordon Grant * Grace Greenwood *

Marion Greenwood Marion Greenwood (April 6, 1909 – August 20, 1970) was an American social realist artist who became popular starting in the 1920s and became renowned in both the United States and Mexico. She is most well known for her murals, but she also pra ...

Davenport Griffen William Davenport Griffen (1894 Millbrook, New York – 1986 San Rafael, California) was an American artist and muralist. Education He graduated from Iowa State University and studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and at the Art Institute o ...

William Gropper William Gropper (December 3, 1897January 3, 1977) was a U.S. cartoonist, painter, lithographer, and muralist. A committed radical, Gropper is best known for the political work which he contributed to such left wing publications as '' The Rev ...

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...

Robert Gwathmey Robert Gwathmey (January 24, 1903 – September 21, 1988) was an American social realist painter. His wife was photographer Rosalie Gwathmey(September 15, 1908 – February 12, 2001) and his son was architect Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – ...

Richard Haines Richard Haines (born Marion, Iowa, December 29, 1906, died, Los Angeles, California October 9, 1984) was an American New Deal muralist.University of Central Arkansas.Arkansas Post Office Murals. Murals Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 i ...

* Sally Haley *

Edith Hamlin Edith Ann Hamlin (June 23, 1902 – February 18, 1992) was an American landscape and portrait painter, and muralist. She is known for her social realism murals created while working with the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project and th ...

George Matthews Harding George Matthews Harding (1882–1959) was an American painter, author-illustrator, and a muralist. He served as an official war artist during World War I and World War II. Life and career George Matthews Harding was born in Philadelphia. At ...

* Charles Russell Hardman *

George Albert Harris George Albert Harris, also known as George Harris (1913–1991), was an American painter, muralist, lithographer, and educator. He was a participant in the WPA Federal Art Project and was among the youngest artists on the mural project at Coit T ...

* Abraham Harriton *

Ernest Martin Hennings Ernest Martin Hennings (1886–1956) was an American artist and member of the Taos Society of Artists. Biography E. Martin Hennings was born in Penns Grove, New Jersey on February 5, 1886 to German immigrant parents. Two years after he was bor ...

Charles Trumbo Henry Charles Trumbo Henry (1902–1964) was an American artist. His mural ''Northern Georgia'' (1939), an oil on canvas, was painted for the United States Post Office in Cornelia, Georgia, in a Section of Painting and Sculpture, Treasury Departmen ...

* Natalie Smith Henry * Victor Higgins *

George Snow Hill George Snow Hill (1898–1969) was a painter and sculptor in the United States known as a muralist. He lived in St. Petersburg, Florida until his death in 1969. He founded the Hill School of Art in St. Petersburg in 1946. Early life and career Hi ...

* Stefan Hirsch *

Alexandre Hogue Alexandre Hogue (February 22, 1898 – July 22, 1994) was an American artist active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was a realist painter associated with the Dallas Nine; the majority of his works focus on Southwestern United States and Sou ...

Milton Horn Milton Horn (September 1, 1906 – March 29, 1995) was a Ukrainian American sculptor and artist known for work that, according to a 1957 citation of honor from the American Institute of Architects, demonstrated "the truth that architecture an ...

Victoria Hutson Huntley Victoria Ebbels Hutson Huntley (1900 Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey – 1971 Arlington, Virginia) was an American artist, and printmaker. Life Huntley grew up in New York City, and studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art and the ...

Peter Hurd Peter Hurd (February 22, 1904 – July 9, 1984) was an American painter whose work is strongly associated with the people and landscapes of San Patricio, New Mexico, where he lived from the 1930s. He is equally acclaimed for his portraits and hi ...

Dahlov Ipcar Dahlov Ipcar (née Zorach; November 12, 1917 – February 10, 2017) was an American painter, illustrator and author. She was best known for her colorful, kaleidoscopic-styled paintings featuring animals – primarily in either farm or wild settin ...

* Reva Jackman * Mitchell Jamieson *

Edwin Boyd Johnson Edwin Boyd Johnson (November 4, 1904 – 1968) was an American painter, designer, muralist and photographer. Edwin Boyd Johnson was born on November 4, 1904, in Watertown, Tennessee,. Not long thereafter, the family moved to Nashville, Tenne ...

J. Theodore Johnson J. Theodore Johnson (November 7, 1902 – 1963) was an American artist and muralist. He was born in Oregon, Illinois, in 1902 and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1921 to 1925. He became an artist and instructor in life drawing at the i ...

Allen Jones Allen Jones may refer to: *Allen Jones (Continental Congress) (1739–1798), Continental Congress delegate *Allen Jones (artist) (born 1937), British pop artist *Allen Jones (record producer) (1940–1987), American record producer * A.J. Styles (A ...

* Joe Jones * Sheffield Kagy *

Joseph Kaplan Joseph Kaplan (September 8, 1902 – October 3, 1991) was a Hungarian-born American physicist. ttp://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-10-13/news/1991286049_1_perry-ellis-museum-of-art-guggenheim-museum Baltimore Sun:Joseph Kaplan, 89, who was profess ...

Charles Kassler Charles Kassler Jr (September 9, 1897, Denver, Colorado — April 3, 1979, San Diego, California) was a painter, printmaker, and lithographer. Early life He lost a hand during a high school chemistry experiment. He studied art and architectur ...

Rockwell Kent Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. Biography Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English descent. He lived much of ...

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Alison Mason Kingsbury Alison Mason Kingsbury Bishop (born Alison Mason Kingsbury; 1898–1988) was an American artist who lived and worked in Ithaca, New York. Known professionally by her maiden name, her work features the landscapes of the Finger Lakes region and res ...

Vance Kirkland Vance Hall Kirkland (November 3, 1904 – May 24, 1981) was a painter and educator in Denver, Colorado. His paintings, from 1926 to 1981, range from realist and impressionist watercolors, to surrealist deadwood worlds, to abstract expressionist ...

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Albert Kotin Albert Kotin (August 7, 1907 – February 6, 1980) belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including in Paris. The New Y ...

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Thomas C. Lea III Thomas Calloway Lea III (July 11, 1907 – January 29, 2001) was an American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian. The bulk of his art and literary works were about Texas, north-central Mexico, and his Worl ...

Doris Lee Doris Emrick Lee (February 1, 1905 – June 16, 1983) was an American painter known for her figurative painting and printmaking. She won the Logan Medal of the Arts from the Chicago Art Institute in 1935. She is known as one of the most successfu ...

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Robert Lepper Robert Lepper (1906-1991) was an American artist and art professor at Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, who developed the country's first industrial design degree program. Lepper's work in industrial design, his fa ...

Edmund Lewandowski Edmund Lewandowski (1914–1998) was an Americans, American Precisionism, Precisionist artist who was often exhibited in the Downtown Gallery alongside other artists such as Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ralston Crawford, Georg ...

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Abraham Lishinsky Abraham Lishinsky (19051982) is an American artist of the 20th Century, a painter and playwright, best known for seven murals completed for the federally funded agencies of the New Deal programs of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in the Russian Empire ...

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Michael Loew Michael Loew (May 8, 1907 — November 14, 1985) was an American Abstract Expressionist artist who was born in New York City. Career In the late 1920s, Loew studied at the Art Students League with the Ashcan School and was a recipient of a Sadi ...

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Musa McKim Musa Jane McKim Guston (née McKim; August 23, 1908 – March 30, 1992), was a painter and poet. Born in Oil City, Pennsylvania, McKim spent much of her youth in Panama. During the Great Depression, she worked under the Section of Fine Arts, ...

Miriam McKinnie Miriam McKinnie (May 22, 1906– October 22, 1987) also known as Miriam McKinnie Hofmeier, was an American artist. Education McKinnie was born in Evanston, Illinois. She attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis (MN) School ...

Kindred McLeary Kindred McLeary (December 3, 1901, Weimar, Texas – May 29, 1949) was an American architect, artist and educator. Education Kindred McLeary studied architecture at the University of Texas and earned his degree in 1927. While teaching at the Un ...

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David Stone Martin David Stone Martin, born David Livingstone Martin (June 13, 1913 – March 6, 1992 in New London, Connecticut) was an American artist best known for his illustrations on jazz record albums.Detailed biographical information is spread throughout ...

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48-State Mural Competition

A competition for one mural to be painted in a post office in each of the 48 states (plus Washington, D.C.) was held in November 1939 at the Corcoran Gallery. The jury selecting the winners was composed of four artists: Maurice Sterne (Chairman), Henry Varnum Poor (designer), Henry Varnum Poor, Edgar Miller (artist), Edgar Miller, and

. Winners were chosen from the original mural studies, not completed murals; community response to artist proposals sometimes resulted in revised designs.

Notes

References

External links

*Historian, United States Postal Service.
New Deal Art in Post Offices
' (September 2015) *David Lembeck,
Rediscovering the People's Art, New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania Post Offices
', with photographs by Michael Mutmansky, (2008)

(2009)

(2009)
The History of United States Post Office Murals
(2018) {{United States Postal Service Murals in the United States Public art in the United States United States Postal Service Section of Painting and Sculpture Treasury Relief Art Project