• Post Office Mural - Canoga Park CA
    The post office in Canoga Park, CA, is graced by a large oil-on-canvas mural by the artist Maynard Dixon, painted in 1941. The mural was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts of the Federal Works Agency (which had previously been part of the Treasury Department). Titled "Palomino Ponies," the mural depicts several galloping horses and a rider.  Dixon was one of the most well-known painters of the American West. "Palomino Ponies"—Dixon's last public mural project—is registered as a National Landmark by the National Historical Society. Note: Established in 1939, the Section of Fine Arts succeeded the Treasury Section of Painting and...
  • Post Office Mural - Martinez CA
    The Martinez downtown post office contains an oil-on-canvas New Deal mural, "The Road to Eldorado" by noted California artists Edith Hamlin and Maynard Dixon. It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1939. The subject matter of the mural appears to be a selection of early settlers of Martinez, with the city and the Carquinez Strait in the background (at the edges), including a Californio (Indian?), prospector and sailor on the left and a businessman and town women on the right, with a postal rider in the middle (in buckskin).  The title seems deftly ironic, but not critical. F0r...
  • Udall Department of the Interior: Dixon Murals - Washington DC
    The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC, by some of the finest American artists of the time.  Maynard Dixon painted "Themes of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Indian and Soldier" and "Themes of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Indian and Teacher" in 1939 with funding from the Section of Fine Arts.  Created to honor the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the murals hang in the 4th floor south lobby. The Department of Interior Museum offers regular mural tours; check their website for information and registration.  For more information on the...