Henry Kreis Sites

The Bronx General Post Office contains superb examples of New Deal art, added in 1938-39 under the Treasure Section of Fine Arts program.  Inside are 13 mural panels by Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda;  on the exterior wall, flanking the entrance, are  two limestone sculptures by Charles Rudy and Henry Kreis.  On the left, as one faces the building, is "Noah" by Rudy; on the right, "The Letter" by Kreis. A Guide to Public Art in the Bronx from Lehman College has this to add: " The awards, announced by the Treasury Department, were made unanimously by the judges, Paul Manship, Edward McCartan and Maurice Sterne, sculptors, and...

The Wilbur J. Cohen building, originally built for the Social Security Administration in 1938-1940, is home to a magnificent collection of social security themed artworks funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Two of the artworks are exterior bas-reliefs over the entrances by Henry Kreis, "The Growth of Social Security" and "The Benefits of Social Security" (1941). The Social Security Administration never occupied the building, which was turned over to the War Department in 1941.  After the war, the Federal Security Agency (FSA), under which the Social Security Board had been placed in 1939, moved into the building. In 1953, the Department...

According to the website of the General Services Administration "Young American Man and Young American Woman act as sentinels to the main courtrooms of the 1937 Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Erie, Pennsylvania. These two sculptures express the admirable qualities possessed by the young men and women of depression-era America. Kreis communicated the upstanding nature of the figures through his use of monumental, simple forms, and by leaving out any unessential or frivolous details. Further evidence of their moral rectitude is cleverly expressed by the inclusion of the man's faithful dog, which regards his human companion with complete devotion....

The State Department was originally built for the War Department in 1940-41 and has been known since 2000 as the Harry S. Truman Federal Building.  It is home to three sculptures commissioned for the original War Department building. •An eagle over the building entrance by Harry Kreis (1942) •A lime casein on plaster work entitled "Defense of the Four Freedoms" by Kindred McLeary (1941) •"War and Peace" by Earl N. Thorp (1941) Another work by Harry Kreis (1942), entitled "Soldier Groups," was originally in the lobby of the War Department but has apparently disappeared (see comment below) A fifth commissioned work, a bas-relief called "Peaceful Pursuits...