New+Deal+Art+Found+in+the+QC

Original Author: Tina Dominicus, ENG340 FL10
 * New Deal Art Found in the QC**

On May 6, 1935, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was created to help provide economic relief to the citizens of the United States who were suffering through the Great Depression. The Federal Art Project was one of the divisions of the W.P.A. created under Federal Project One. While there were prior attempts to provide employment for artists during the Depression, the Federal Art Project was the most successful, and therefore the most widely known. During the course of the program, 225,000 works of art were produced for the American people, including: 2,566 murals, 17,744 sculptures, 108,099 easel paintings and 240,000 prints. Among these, the murals produced by this project are probably the most easily recognized and the most widely known.

Unfortunately, there are no WPA murals in the immediate Quad City area. In Iowa, there are nine large murals by artist Grant Wood to be found at Iowa State University in Ames, a mural at Harrison Elementary School in Cedar Rapids by artist William E Henning, and finally, a mural by Edgar Britton at the Waterloo Public Library in Waterloo. There do not appear to be any WPA murals in Illinois, however, as in Iowa, there are a number of post office murals of the same era. The post office murals, while often mistaken for WPA art, were actually the product of a different government program altogether.

The post office murals created in the United States during the Great Depression were the brainchild of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (commonly referred to as “The Section”), which was established in 1934 to commsions artwork in newly-constructed Federal Post Offices and Courthouses. Unlike the Federal Art Project, this was not a relief program. Instead, mural contracts were awarded based on a competitive basis, with only the best artists being selected for the mural projects.

The Section's main purpose was to select art of high quality to decorate public buildings, thereby bringing high quality art to the “common man’s” level. The theory was that by providing decoration in public buildings, the art was made accessible to all people. Post offices were a logical choice as they are located in virtually every community and would be viewable by all postal patrons and personnel, exemplifying the purpose behind the establishment of the Section.

Happily, we have two examples of Depression-era post office murals here in the immediate Illinois Quad City area, as well as one slightly farther away in DeWitt, Iowa. Located at the Moline post office is a mural entitled "Ploughshare Manufacturing" by Edward Millman. Created in 1937, this mural is an “egg tempera on gesso” and is pictured on the next page.

Born in Chicago in 1907, Edward Millman attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later became the chief illustrator for the Chicago Evening American. He is regarded as one the most productive Depression-era muralists in Illinois, creating post office murals in Decatur, Moline, and Chicago. The mural located in Moline--“Ploughshare Manufacturing”—has been described as “depict[ing] laborers…in a dramatic and dynamic scene where workers and machines almost struggle with each other”

Located at the East Moline post office is a mural entitled “Early Settlers of Moline along the Mississippi” Edgar Britton. Created in 1936, this mural is considered a “fresco” and is pictured on the next page.

Britton was born in 1901in Kearney, Nebraska. He studied at the University of Iowa from 1918-1920 and was a student of Grant Wood’s from 1920 to 1924. Britton completed seven mural projects for both the WPA and the Section, including a mural in the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. While he is best known for his murals—and was, in fact, Director of the mural division of the Illinois Art Project from 1940 to 1941—Britton also did sculpture work in bronze and landscape painting. Finally, located in DeWitt (now at City Hall rather than the post office) is a mural entitled “Shucking Corn” by John Bloom. Created in 1938, this piece is an “oil on canvas” and is pictured on the next page.

Perhaps the most contemporary of the artists discussed here, John Bloom was born in De Witt, Iowa in 1906. He later moved to Davenport where he attended St Ambrose University. In 1932, Bloom joined Grant Wood at the Stone City Art Colony; in comparing the two artists, it could be said that “Wood made us see Iowa on his terms. John Bloom gives us an even closer sense of place in his scenes at Fejervary Park, the Davenport levee and Crystal Lake.” Bloom went on to do commercial art throughout the Quad Cities, officially “retiring” in 1969. He passed away in Davenport, Iowa on May 21, 2002. Several of his works can be found at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, including one entitled “Monkey Island”, a depiction of Fejevary Park, pictured below.

David Cook Galleries, LLC. (2010). Artist Biographies: Edgar Britton. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from David Cook Fine Art: [] Harpaz, N. (2010). A Gift to Biro-Bidjan: Chicago, 1937. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from Oakton Community College:Koehnline Museum of Art: [] Lorance, N. (2007). New Deal/WPA Art in Illinois. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from New Deal Art During the Great Depression:[| http://www.wpamurals.com/illinois.html] Lorance, N. (2007). New Deal/WPA Art in Iowa. Retrieved November 5, 2010, from New Deal Art During the Great Depression: [] Mississippi Fine Arts. (2009). Biography. Retrieved December 1, 2010, from John Bloom: [] Parma Conservation, LTD. (2008). Post Office Murals. Retrieved December 3, 2010, from Parma Conservation: [] Raynor, P. (1997, October-December). Off The Wall. En Route, 6 (4). Wilkinson, J. (n.d.). The WPA Federal Art Project. Retrieved December 3, 2010, from Keys Historeum: []
 * Works Cited**

Return to Painters and Other Artists

Return to Home