Berta Margoulies Sites

Berta Margoulies was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the sculpture “Colonial Foot Postman, 1691-1775.” The sculpture was made out of an aluminum alloy, and Margoulies was paid $3,000 for the job. When this artwork was created, the present-day Clinton Federal Building was the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department. The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then the “Treasury Section of Fine Arts”; and finally just “Section of Fine Arts” when it was moved under the jurisdiction of...

The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, originally the US Post Office Department, was begun under the Hoover Administration and completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It is richly decorated with New Deal artworks paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. There are 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements: 12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, and 8 carved wood medallions. The building serves today as the headquarters for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  It includes a local branch post office, called Benjamin Franklin Station, on Pennsylvania Avenue, that is open to the public; but entry to the rest of the building...

The Monticello Economic Development Commission building—formerly the post office—features (New Deal) Section of Fine Arts-funded terra-cotta reliefs entitled "Tomato Culture." They were created by Berta Margoulies in 1941. "Berta Margoulies was commissioned for $750 to create a mural for Monticello, Arkansas as a result of competent designs submitted in a Section of Fine Arts Competition. Margoulies method of sculpting differed from the more usual techniques. Generally, an original model was copied in another material such as stone or bronze. These reliefs, however, were modeled directly in terra cotta clay and they were then fired in a kiln. This direct method, while...

The historic post office building in Canton, New York houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Section of Fine Arts relief entitled "Stillman Foote Acquires Homestead of John Harrington," completed in 1939 by Berta Margoulies and installed in the post office lobby.