- City:
- Clyde, OH
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Sculpture and Bas Relief
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
- Artist:
- William M. Krusen
Description
The post office contains a 1939 wooden relief entitled “Agriculture.” It was funded by the Section of Fine Arts and created by William Krusen. The relief depicts a nude woman emphasizing fertility and the productiveness of the land, cradling a shock of wheat in her lap and a scythe in her left hand. There are minor condition issues.
William Krusen was born in Philadelphia and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He worked with wood primarily and after moving to Florida was known for his sculpture and carpentry.
Source notes
Park and Markowitz, Democratic Vistas, Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, 1984.Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on January 28, 2013.
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That is my dad. We have the plaster of paris version which guided the tool which carved this wood version of Agriculture hanging above the mantle in the family homestead in Goldenrod, Florida. This is my first time to view this particular entry. By the way, the post office in Clyde has the letter Dad sent them in 1939 explaining how to hang this bas relief. The M in his name is for Morrison. He worked primarily with plasteline from which he made plaster of paris molds, with which he then cast the plaster of paris art piece. He was first and foremost a sculptor, but he also did many, many wood carvings, as well a fired ceramics and water colors. While he was a carpenter for puposes of feeding his family, he worked at Jules Andre Smith’s Research Studio in Maitland, Florida and with Albin Polasek at his home in Winter Park, Florida.