Karl Free Sites

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934.  It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes. Karl Free painted two large (7' x 13.5') murals for the former Post Office Building: "French Hugenots in Florida" and "Arrival of Mail in New Amsterdam".  Painted in 1938, they are located on the 7th floor of the south wing of the building. The building...

The historic former Palmer Square post office in Princeton, New Jersey houses an example of New Deal artwork: a large mural, entitled "Columbia under the Palm," painted by Karl Free in 1939. The mural remains in place despite USPS having sold the building to private interests and the building undergoing multiple transformations since that time. "One of the distinctive features of the post office building is a controversial 1939 mural depicting Native Americans kneeling at the arrival of European colonists, a scene that some have denounced as racist."   (https://www.nj.com)