New Deal/WPA Art in Illinois
Post Office New Deal Artwork
Most of the Post Office works of art were funded through commissions under the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (later known as The Section of Fine Arts) and not the WPA.
"Often mistaken for WPA art, post office murals were actually executed by artists working for the Section of Fine Arts. Commonly known as "the Section," it was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. Headed by Edward Bruce, a former lawyer, businessman, and artist, the Section's main function was to select art of high quality to decorate public buildings if the funding was available. By providing decoration in public buildings, the art was made accessible to all people." from "Articles from EnRoute : Off The Wall: New Deal Post Office Murals" by Patricia Raynor
Unless indicated, works of art are located in the US Post Office building.
|
Location |
Artist |
Title |
Date |
Medium |
| Abingdon USPO | H. Arnold Newell | "The Post Rider" | 1941 | terra-cotta relief |
| Berwyn | Richard Haines | "The Picnic" | 1942 | oil on canvas |
| Brookfield | Edouard Chassaing | "Means of Mail Transportation" | 1937 | plaster |
|
|
Reva Jackman |
"Pioneer Home in Bushnell" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
| Carlyle | Curt Drewes | "Farm" | 1939 | cast stone |
|
|
Curt Drewes |
"Dairy Farming" |
1939 |
cast stone |
| Carlyle | Curt Drewes | "Fish Hatchery" | 1939 | cast stone |
|
|
Davenport Griffin |
"Service to the Farmer" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Karl Kelpe |
"Pioneers - Tilling the Soil and Building Log Cabin" |
1938 |
mural |
|
|
Fay E. Davis |
"Loading the Packet" |
1940 |
tempera |
| Chicago - Chestnut Street Station | Gustaf Dalstrom | "Great Indian Council, Chicago - 1833" | 1938 | oil on canvas |
| Chicago - Chestnut Street Station (now in the Canal St. PO) |
Frances Foy | "Advent of 'The Pioneer' - 1851" | 1938 | oil on canvas |
|
Chicago - |
Charles Turzak |
"Abstract Symbols of Army" |
no date |
oil on canvas (each |
| Chicago - Kedzie/Grace Branch | Peterpaul Ott | "Mercury" | 1938 | aluminum |
| Chicago - Lakeview Branch | Harry Sternberg | "Chicago - the Epoch of a Great City" |
1938 | oil on canvas |
| Chicago - Logan Square Branch |
Hildreth Meiere | "The Post" | 1937 | metal |
| Chicago - Morgan Park Branch | J. Theodore Johnson | "Father Marquette - 1674" | 1937 | oil on canvas |
|
Chicago - |
Henry Varnum |
"Carl Sandburg and Louis Sullivan" |
1943 |
ceramic tile |
|
|
Arthur H. Lidov |
"Rail Roading" |
1942 |
egg tempera on gesso |
|
|
Aaron Bohrod |
"Clinton in Winter" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Edward Millman |
"Early Pioneers" |
1938 |
fresco |
|
|
Edward Millman |
"Social Consciousness" |
1938 |
fresco |
|
|
Edward Millman |
"Growth of Democracy in Illinois" |
1938 |
fresco |
|
|
Mitchell Siporin |
"Fusion of Agriculture & Industry in Illinois" |
1938 |
fresco |
|
|
Edgar Britton |
"Natural Resources of Illinois" |
1938 |
fresco |
|
|
Edgar Britton |
"Development of Illinois" |
1938 |
fresco |
| Des Plaines | James Michael Newell | "Father Marquette" | 1945 | mural |
Downers Grove |
Elizabeth Tracy | "Chicago, Railroad Center of the Nation" | 1940 | oil on canvas |
|
|
Carlos Lopez |
"Stage at Dawn" |
1937 |
fresco |
|
|
Frances Foy |
"The Letter" |
1936 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Edgar Britton |
"Early Settlers of Moline along the Mississippi" |
1936 |
fresco |
|
|
William Schwartz |
"Mining in Illinois" |
1937 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
George Melville Smith |
"There was Vision" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Robert I. Russin |
"Throwing the Mail" |
1941 |
cast aluminum with gold foil |
| Evanston | Robert I. Russin | "Mail Handler" | 1941 | cast aluminum with gold foil |
| Evanston | Armin A. Scheler | "The Message" | 1940 | carved limestone relief |
|
|
Armin A. Scheler |
"The Answer" |
1940 |
carved limestone relief |
|
|
William Schwartz |
"Old Settlers" |
1936 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Davenport Griffen |
"Good News and Bad" |
1937 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Miriam McKinnie (Hofmeier) |
"The White Fawn" |
1940 |
mural |
|
|
Aaron Bohrod |
"Breaking the Prairie - Log City - 1837" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Manuel A. Bromberg |
"Fish Fry in the Park" |
1940 |
tempera |
|
|
Frances Foy |
"Hiawatha Returning with Minnehaha" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
| Gillespie | Gustaf Dalstrom | "Illinois Farm" | 1936 | oil on canvas |
|
|
Dan Rhodes |
"Settlers" |
1937 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Edmund D. Lewandowski |
"On the River" |
1941 |
mural |
|
Herrin |
Gustaf Dalstrom |
"George Rogers Clark Conferring with Indians near Herrin" |
1940 |
mural |
|
|
Maurine Montgomery (Gibbs) |
"The Letter" |
1942 |
wood relief |
|
Kankakee |
Edouard Chassaing |
"Farming" |
1943 |
wood relief |
|
|
Charles Turzak |
"Canal Boats" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Ida Abelman |
"Lewistown Milestones" |
1941 |
tempera |
|
|
Dorothea Mierisch |
"First Official Air Mail Flight" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
A. Raymond Katz |
"Assimilation of the Immigrant into the Industrial Life of Madison" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Avery Johnson |
"Industrial Marseilles" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Miriam McKinnie (Hofmeier) |
"Harvest" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
| Melrose Park (destroyed) |
Edwin Boyd Johnson | "Air Mail" | 1937 | fresco |
|
|
Edward Millman |
"Ploughshare Manufacturing" |
1937 |
egg tempera on gesso |
|
|
Charles Umlauf |
"Spirit of Communication" |
1939 |
cast stone relief |
| Mount Carroll | Irene Bianucci | "Rural Scenes - Wakarusa Valley" | 1941 | oil on canvas |
|
|
Dale Nichols |
"The Growth of Mount Morris" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Henry Bernstein |
"The Covered Bridge" |
1941 |
tempera |
|
|
Rainey Bennett |
"George Martin's Home Overlooking Old Naper Hill" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
| Nashville | Zoltan Sepeshy | "Barn Yard" | 1942 | tempera on wall board |
| Nokomis | Bernard J. (Tony) Rosenthal | "Coal Mining" | 1947 | wood relief |
|
|
Albert Pels |
"Development of the State Normal School" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
Oak Park |
J. Theodore Johnson | "History of Chicago" | 1939 | oil on canvas |
|
|
Merlin F. Pollock |
"John Mason Peck, First Postmaster Handing Out Mail - 1830" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Fay E. Davis |
"The Illini and Pottawatomies Struggle at Starved Rock" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
David Cheskin |
"The Pioneer and Democracy" |
1940 |
tempera |
|
Park Ridge |
George Melville Smith |
"Indians Cede the Land" |
1940 |
mural |
|
Peoria
|
Freeman Schoolcraft |
"Agriculture," "Industry," "Native Indian," and "Postal Service" |
1939 |
limestone |
|
|
John Winters |
"Lincoln at New Salem, Illlinois" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
William Schwartz |
"Champ Clark Bridge" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
| Plano | Peterpaul Ott | "Harvest" | 1941 | wood relief |
|
|
Curt Drewes |
"Farming by Hand" |
1939 |
plaster relief |
|
|
Curt Drewes |
"The Manufacture of Farm Implements" |
1939 |
plaster relief |
|
|
Rainey Bennett |
"Hart Fellows, Builder of Rushville" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Vladimir Rousseff |
"Lincoln as Postmaster in New Salem" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Marshall M. Fredericks |
"The Family" |
1941 |
terra cotta relief |
|
|
Sister Lucia Wiley |
"Shelby County Fair - 1900" |
1941 |
fresco |
| Staunton | Ralph Henricksen | "Going to Work" | 1941 | oil on canvas |
|
|
Edwin Boyd Johnson |
"The Old Days" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Aaron Bohrod |
"Old State Capitol in Vandalia, Illinois" |
1936 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
James Daugherty |
"Illinois Pastoral" |
1939 |
tempera and oil |
|
|
Felix Schlag |
"Potter and His Burro" |
1939 |
plaster relief |
|
|
Raymond Breinin |
"In the Soil Is Our Wealth" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Archibald Motley, Jr. |
"Stagecoach and Mail" |
1937 |
oil on canvas |
All mural images depicted
on this site are used with permission
of the United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Reference Source:
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
by Marlene Park & Gerald E. Markowitz
Visit the Illinois Post Office art slide show!
Bloom Township High School
(article on the Edgar Britton frescoes from Historic Illinois,
October 1988)
Cairo Public Library
Champaign - Champaign Junior High School (now Neil Middle School)
Chicago:
Jane Addams Homes
Chicago Department of Water
Chicago Mural Restoration Project
Chicago Parks
Cook County Hospital
Lakeview Post Office
Lane Technical High School,
Chicago - too many murals to lists!
South Side Community Art Center
College-in-the-Hills, Saline County - Mildred B. McCormick has written two very interesting articles about this early effort by WPA artists to establish a college for urban youths. - Part 1, Part 2 - published by Springhouse Magazine.
Deerfield - article about the WPA tile mosaic mural that was in the Deerfield Grammar School - "Students Revive Mural for Kipling's 50th" by Lena Rayes Ichkhan, Deerfield Review, June 1, 2000 (pdf)
Glen Ellyn - Forest Glen Elementary School
Lake Forest - Gorton Community Center
Lockport, IL - The Illinois State Museum, Lockport Gallery, has an extensive collection of WPA art plus is an excellent source of information on Illinois artists.
Macomb - the Missing Sculpture of Macomb! According to John Graham, Curator of Exhibits, Western Illinois University Art Gallery, Boris Gilbertson was commissioned to create a relief sculpture of a cow and calf for the Macomb Post Office, which he completed. However the Postmaster refused to accept the work, due to the impending war effort; he couldn't accept art, a lower priority for the community, when the economic need was greater for the military. Consequently, the work was never installed and is presently located in Washington, presumably in mothballs.
Oak Park - a list of various WPA works plus photographs of the Andrene Kauffman wood carvings at Lincoln School
Peoria - "Peace" and "Harvest" by Mary Anderson Clark
Rochelle - The Public Library
St. Charles - Public Library
Shawneetown Courthouse murals - #1, #2, and #3
Wilmette - Laurel School mural
Personalities:
Illinois Search Sites:
© 2006 Nancy Lorance
All Rights Reserved.