WPA Murals, Part 1

Mural by Symeon Shimin, “Contemporary Justice in Relation to the Child.” Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C., ca. 1940. Courtesy National Archives. [ARC Identifier 195951]

It wasn’t until I came across mention in Assassination Vacation of Edwin Booth being featured in a WPA post office mural in Bel Air, Maryland, that I realized murals in public places were  another one of the New Deal’s arts initiatives (I’m still waiting on the current Stimulus Package’s programs for writers and artists…). I wanted to have a look at these.

I started at the National Archives, where I found these:

“Painting depicting race involving people in wagons, on horseback, and a bike to stake claims on land plots. One of the wagon canvas’s says: Oklahoma or Bust:.” Artist: John Stewart Curry. Building and city not identified, ca. 1937.  Courtesy National Archives. [ARC identifier197273]

“Painting of steamboat pushing barges on Hudson River with New York City skyline in background, ca. 1937. ” Artist: Louis Lozowick. New York City General Post Office. Courtesy National Archives. [ARC Identifier 195793]

“Painting depicting World War I scene with soldiers and ammunition in foreground and large dirigible suspended in upper middle.” Artist Peppino Mangravite. Hempstead, New York, ca. 1937. Courtesy National Archives. [ARC Identifier 195789]

These frescoes (below) by Reginald Marsh are in the New York City Customs House. The shapes of these images confused me until I saw the photograph of their location. Courtesy National Archives. [ARC Identifiers 195957, 195814, 195816]

 

I did a little looking around and I found that the Midwest Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association maintains a webpage, New Deal Art During the Great Depression, with lists of post office murals organized by town and state. Many are accompanied by photographs, and while permission to use these might be easy to get, they aren’t in the public domain. But you can see them on by starting here.

My next idea was to go to the US Postal Service site. According to the USPS, even if you take a picture of one of these murals yourself only for non-commercial/educational purposes it must be credited “Used with the permission of the United States Postal Service®. All rights reserved.”  Moreover,

Any use of mural images by a commercial entity or by a nonprofit entity for profit-making, commercial purposes requires approval from the Rights and Permissions office.

 Why? Because

The Postal Service is the owner and proud guardian of over 1,000 murals and sculptures commissioned by the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts from 1934 to 1943.

How exactly the USPS can consider itself the owner of art commissioned by the Federal government is beyond my comprehension, but the explanation, such as it is, appears in the General Services Administration Guidelines on Fine Arts, which you can look at here.

I had more success at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. Their policy is

Unless copyright information is stated in the image caption, all of the digitized material available online from the FDR Library Archives belongs in the public domain. This means that, to the best of our knowledge, the materials may be freely used by the online researcher, teacher, or student. Users of online material should be aware, however, that it is still necessary to acknowledge the source of documents, photographs and other historical material by proper citation. Please see guidance below.

When you do see copyright information associated with documents or photographs, either in-person or on our website, it is your responsibility as a researcher to acquire permission from the copyright owner in order to legally use that material in your project or publication.

So I am able to share these with you, showing the process of creating one of these murals, which happens to be the subject of an exhibition at the FDR Library Museum on display through November 19, 2009:

First is a postcard depicting Stoutenburgh panel ca. 1940s [MO 1968.15.15], a mural in the Hyde Park, NY Post Office by Olin Dows. Second is a mixed media drawing for the panel  [Section of Fine Arts, Treasury Department MO 1968.15.17], and third, a final color study [Section of Fine Arts, Treasury Department MO 1968.15.1]. All Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, New York.