H. Louis Freund Sites

H. Louis Freund painted this 13' x 4'8" oil on canvas mural "Early Days and First Post Office in Pocahontas" in 1939 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for the post office in Pocahontas. After years of damage, it was restored and transported to ASU. "The mural depicts several early scenes of Pocahontas and the surrounding areas. In the lower right is the community of Davidsonville, where the state's first post office was established in 1817. On the left is the old dam and mill as it existed around 1835 in the community of Birdell on the Eleven Point River....

The oil-on-canvas mural "From Timber to Agriculture" was painted for the historic Heber Springs post office, now municipal building. "Louis Freund was commissioned for $660 to create a mural for Heber Springs, Arkansas. He visited the town and decided to construct a scene that extolled the early, pioneer life of the community. He experienced a significant degree of difficulty modeling the oxen, being forced to revise them three times before the Section approved of their rendering. Further difficulties arose concerning the angle of the axe in the man's hand, claims that it appeared limp forced Freund to revise the figure a...

The oil-on-canvas mural "The Last Home of the Choctaw Nation" was commissioned by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work was completed by H. Louis Freund and installed in the lobby of the old Idabel post office in 1940. "It is today located in the Museum of the Red River on the south loop of Idabel."

New Deal mural entitled "Arrival of the First Train in Herington--1885" painted by H. Louis Freund in 1937. Medium: oil on canvas Size: 11' x 5'

The post office contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by H. Louis Freund entitled "Agriculture and Varied Institutes." The mural is a triptych centered on a monumental farmer working behind a plow pulled by 2 powerful horses.  He is moving away from the viewer, consumed by his labor, not by the surroundings.  In the left panel, a steam shovel dominates the scene, surrounded by trucks all of which dwarf the men in the front center.  The idyllic chicken farm scene in the right panel has precisionist elements, but the young boy feeding the chickens embodies a peaceful time and...