New Deal/WPA Art in North Carolina
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 |
|
Ahoskie |
Julien Binford |
"The Peanut Harvest" |
no date |
mural |
|
|
Louis Ribak |
"View Near Albemarle" |
1939 |
mural |
|
Beaufort |
Simka Simkhovitch |
"Crissy Wright," "Goose Decoys," "Mail to Cape Lookout," and "Sand Ponies" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Peter DeAnna |
"Major William Chronicle's South Fork Boys"** |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
Boone |
Alan Tompkins |
"Daniel Boone on a Hunting Trip in Watuaga County" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Pietro Lazzari |
"Good News" |
1941 |
glazed tempera |
|
Burlington, |
Arthur Leroy Bairnsfather |
"Cotton Textiles" and "Historical Railroad Station" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
Canton |
Sam Bell |
"Paper" |
1940 |
terra-cotta reliefs (7 reliefs) |
|
Chapel Hill |
Dean Cornwell |
"Laying the Cornerstone of Old East" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
Concord |
Edward Buk Ulreich |
"The Spirit of North Carolina" |
1942 |
mural (destroyed when the PO building was demolished in 1967)* |
|
Dunn |
Paul Rudin |
"Cotton and Tobacco" |
1939 |
relief |
|
Eden |
Ruth Nickerson |
"American Oriental Rug Weaving" |
1941 |
glazed terra-cotta |
|
Elkin |
Anita Weschler |
"Early Days at Elkin" |
1939 |
sculpture |
|
Forest City |
Duane Champlain |
"Rural Delivery" |
1939 |
plaster relief |
|
|
Francis Speight |
"Cotton Field and Spinning Mill" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Hamlet |
Nena de Brennecke |
"Peaches," "Drilling," and "Dewberries" |
1942 |
carved mahogany reliefs |
|
Kings Mountain |
Verona Burkhard |
"Battle of Kings Mountain" |
1941 |
mural |
|
Laurinburg |
Agnes Tait |
"Fruits of the Land" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Richard Jansen |
"Threshing Grain" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Louisburg |
Richard Kenah |
"Tobacco Auction" |
1939 |
oil on canvas |
|
Madison |
Jean Watson |
"Early Summer in North Carolina" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Bruno Piccirilli |
"Unity" |
1939 |
sculpture |
|
Mebane |
Margaret C. Gates |
"Landscape - Tobacco Curing" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
Mooresville |
Alicia Weincek |
"North Carolina Cotton Industry" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
|
Dean Cornwell |
"Sir Walter Raleigh" and "First Landing on North Carolina Shore" |
1938 |
mural |
|
New Bern, |
David Silvette |
"The Bayard Singleton Case," "First Printing Press in North Carolina (1749)," and "First Provincial Convention in North Carolina (1774)" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Red Springs |
John W. de Groot |
"War - The Battle of Little Raft Swamp," "The Coming of the Scots," and "Peace - Work and Knowledge" |
1941 |
mural |
|
|
Gordon Samstag |
"Tobacco" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Roanoke Rapids |
Charles W. Ward |
"Cotton Pickers" |
1938 |
mural (missing) |
|
Rockingham |
Edward Laning |
"The Past as Connecting Thread in Human Life" |
1937 |
oil on canvas triptych |
|
Roxboro |
Allan Gould |
"Gathering Tobacco" |
1938 |
mural |
|
Sanford |
Pietro Lazzari |
"The Kinsfolk of Virginia Dare" |
1938 |
mural |
|
Siler City |
Maxwell B. Starr |
"Building the First House at Siler's Crossroads" |
1942 |
oil on canvas |
|
Southern Pines |
Josef Presser |
"Southern Pines Idyll" (incorrectly listed in Democratic Vistas as "Horses")**** |
1943 |
oil on canvas |
|
Statesville, |
Sahl Swarz |
"Freeman Prosper" and "Defend Freedom" |
1948 |
freestanding wood |
|
Wake Forest |
Harold G. Egan |
"Richness of the Soil No. 2" |
1941 |
mural |
|
Wallace |
G. Glenn Newell |
"Daydreams" |
1941 |
oil on canvas |
|
Warrenton |
Alice Dineen |
"North Carolina Pastoral" |
1938 |
oil on canvas |
|
Weldon |
Jean de Marco |
"Early Childhood ofVirginia Dare" |
1940 |
plaster relief |
|
Whiteville |
Roy Schatt |
"Harvesting Tobacco" |
1941 |
tempera |
|
Williamston |
Philip von Saltza |
"First Flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
|
Wilmington |
Thomas G. Lo Medico |
"History and Present Day Themes Relating to Wilmington and Its Surroundings" |
1937 |
plaster reliefs (7) |
|
Wilmington |
William F. Pfohl |
"Port of Wilmington" |
1940 |
oil on canvas |
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
*information courtesy of Jimmy Emerson
**The correct title contributed by David Ewing.
***The New Deal at Work in Mooresville - a comprehensive website on the progress and projects in Mooresville, NC, hosted by Cindy Jacobs.
****The correct title contributed by Michael Prosise, Historical Research Specialist, Do-You-Graphics, Archival Research Department
© 2006 Nancy Lorance
All Rights Reserved.