Graham, Texas New Deal Art
The following is from the Rootsweb site about Graham, TX at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~txyoung/cenchap3.htm
"When the Graham brothers first arrived in Graham, their post office address was Belknap. The first post office in Graham was located on the west side of the square. Each new administration would choose its own place for a post office, renting the building from some individual party. In 1939 a Federal building was built on the inside of the square to house the post office. The east wall of the lobby of the new post office was adorned with a mural, painted by Alexander Hogue, a prominent Dallas artist. The mural depicted Colonel E.S. Graham standing in front of "Standpipe" Mountain, two laborers working on a pipe line, and two men in street clothes examining blueprints. Also in the picture are a large piece of machinery, some oil field boilers, and a truck. This meaningful picture of Graham - deteriorated as the years passed and when the post office was repainted the mural was covered."
However, according to The Texas Post Office Murals: Art for the People by Philip Parisi, the Graham Post Office mural has been restored and is extant in the old Post Office building, 510 Third Street, which now houses the Young County Historical Museum.
Graham, TX Post Office
"Oil Fields of Graham" - oil on
canvas
Alexandre Hogue (1939)
Image courtesy of the USPS
Photograph credit: The Texas Post Office Murals: Art for the People by Philip Parisi, p. 61
© 2006 Nancy Lorance
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