New Deal/WPA Art in Tennessee
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 |
|
|
Carl Nyquist |
"Picking Cotton" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
John H. Fyfe |
"Mail Delivery to Tranquility - The First Post Office in Benton County" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Chattanooga, |
Hilton Leech |
"Allegory of Chattanooga" |
1937 |
oil on canvas |
|
Chattanooga, |
Leopold Scholz |
"The Mail Carrier" |
1938 |
silver-plated bronze |
|
Clarksville |
F. Luis Mora |
"Arrival of Col. John Donaldson" and "Abundance of Today" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Horace Day |
"Farm and Factory" |
1940 |
tempera |
|
Columbia, |
Henry Billings |
"Maury County Landscape" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
Columbia, |
Sidney Waugh |
"American Eagle" |
1941 |
sculpture |
|
|
Marion Greenwood |
"The Partnership of Man and Nature" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Bertram Hartman |
"View from Johnson's Bluff" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Enea Biafora |
"News on the Job" |
1940 |
wood relief |
|
|
Edwin Boyd Johnson |
"People of the Soil" |
1939 |
fresco |
|
|
Minetta Good |
"Retrospection" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Anne Poor |
"Gleason Agriculture" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
Greenville, |
William Zorach |
"Man Power" and "Natural Resources" |
1940 |
wood reliefs |
|
|
Charles Child |
"Great Smokies and Tennessee Farms" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Wendell Jones |
"Farmer Family" |
1940 |
mural (missing) |
|
|
Dahlov Ipear |
"On the Shores of the Lake" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Davide Stone Martin |
"Electrification" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
John H. R. Pickett |
"Coming 'Round the Mountain" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Grace Greenwood (Ames) |
"Progress of Power" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Margaret Covey Chisholm |
"The New Comers" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Karl Oberteuffer |
"Early U.S. Post Village" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Manchester, |
Minna Citron |
"Horse Swapping Day" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Eugene Higgins |
"Early Settlers Entering Mount Pleasant" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
Nashville |
Belle Kinney |
"Portrait Bust of Adm. Albert Gleaves" |
1940 |
sculpture (missing) |
|
Newport |
Minna Citron |
"TVA Power" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
Ripley |
Marguerite Zorach |
"Autumn" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Christian Heinrich |
"Wild Life" |
1939 |
terra cotta |
|
Sweetwater |
Thelma Martin |
"Wild Boar Hunt" |
1942 |
egg tempera |
All mural images depicted
on this site are used with permission
of the United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Source:
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
by Marlene Park & Gerald E. Markowitz
"New Deal Art: Tennessee Treasures" - March 15, 2005 Media Release by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development (www.tenntravelnews.com) - contact: Mike Cohen
"In the Pines" article about the Tennessee WPA
© 2005 Nancy Lorance
All Rights Reserved.