Oscar E. Berninghaus Sites

The historic former Federal Building and Post Office in Phoenix, Arizona houses examples of New Deal artwork. In 1937 the U.S. Treasury’s Section of Fine Arts commissioned artist La Verne Nelson Black to create two murals for the east wing of the post office, respectively entitled "Historical Background" and "Progress of the Pioneer." The murals present images of Anglo-American settlement and industrialization. Black moved with his family to Phoenix for health reasons and focused his painting and sculpture on the historic West and Native Americans. Another three murals funded by the Section were painted by Oscar Berninghaus. They hang in...

Oscar E. Berninghaus painted this Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural entitled "Border Gateways" in 1937 in the Fort Scott federal courthouse. As of 2007, the federal court room was empty. Access was possible with permission from the post office, housed downstairs. This work is a placid scene showing settlers travelling into the Kansas Territory as a result of the “Enabling Act of Kansas Territory” in 1854. There appear to be rows of newly cut wheat and Native Americans looking on the settlers at the front left, with cavalry at the front right. A stagecoach is in the background, possibly the...

The post office contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural by Oscar Berninghaus entitled “Terminus of the Railroad, 1898-1901." The railroad ended at Weatherford from 1898-1901 and this work depicts the station, a train engine, and surrounding covered wagons and horses. It depicts the flat western plains of Oklahoma in the area with sparse trees in the background. Oscar Berninghaus was born in St. Louis, MO and was largely self taught, though he attended class part-time at Washington University. Growing up painting the levee in St. Louis, he absorbed tales of the old West and travelled to Colorado and New Mexico,...