Post Office Mural - Higginsville MO

City:: Higginsville, MO
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals
New Deal Agencies:: Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
Completed:: 1942
Artist:: Jac T. Bowen

Description

The post office contains a 1942 Section of Fine Arts mural painted by Jac T. Bowen entitled “Industrial Activity in the City.”

This is a brightly colored image incorporating local manufacturing concerns. In
contrast to many murals, the emphasis is on the machines with the people working on the machines, but the focus is on the different types and size of the machines, particularly the generator in the middle of the mural. Bowen explained his mural: “Work made the town—work is building the town—and work will be the theme of their future; the song of their machines, their minds and their hands”.

He was born in Fort Dodge, IA in 1917, and moved to Kansas City where he later studied at the KC Art Institute under Benton, Edward Lanning and James Fitzgerald. Interestingly, he chose the model for “Persephone” by Benton. He received this commission after placing second for the commission of the mural of Marian Anderson in the Interior Building.

Source notes

Park and Markowitz, Democratic Vistas, Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, 1984. Marybeth Lake, Jac T. Bowen, Kansas City Artist https://www.newdealartregistry.org/

Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on January 11, 2013.