Murals Sites

In 1938, artist Andre Boratko painted these murals in Milaca's new town hall with funding from the WPA.

This tempera on canvas mural "Early Spanish Caballeros" was painted by Lew E. Davis with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It was moved to its current location at the museum from the Los Banos Post Office.

Myron Nutting painted murals for the Milwaukee Public Museum (a natural history museum) in the early 1930s.

"The Milwaukee Theatre is home to nine murals by the WPA artist Thorsten Lindberg. He was an accomplished artistic craftsman, nationally recognized for his technical skill in watercolor. Much of Lindberg’s work dating from the 1930s and early ‘40s features historical subjects of national, statewide, and local significance... While in Milwaukee Lindberg was employed as a commercial artist and as a staff artist for many of the Works Project Administration’s (WPA) historical art projects for the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and the County Park system... Lindberg was selected to design and paint a series of historical murals which...

This building was originally the post office, but then was repurposed as the Mineola Historical Museum. The oil-on-canvas mural by Bernard Zakheim, entitled "New and Old Methods of Transportation," was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. From Art Daily, on the occasion of the announcement of its restoration: During the Great Depression, jobs were scarce and rural inhabitants were struggling to come to terms with the explosion of new industries and new forms of transportation. Mineola residents, who at the time were mostly farmers, were trying to catch up with their country, which was rapidly changing from being an agricultural...

"Howard Schleeter's oil and tempera of "Red Foothills," 3'1/2" x 4'1/2", is in the same building which is now a long term care facility. The date, March 1940, is written on the back as the date it was created."

"The Armory houses two of the few remaining examples of Federal Arts Project murals – two 12-foot frescoed murals by local artists Lucia Wiley and Elsa Jemne."   (https://www.placeography.org)

The school contains two 6' x 24' murals "Civilization Through the Arts and Crafts as Taught to the Neophyte Indians" and "Mission San Francisco de Asis." They were painted by Edith Hamlin in 1936-37 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Betty Willey and Jay Risling assisted. Hamlin retouched the murals herself in 1973. Both murals were originally located in the school library.

The Mission Historical Museum (formerly post office) houses an example of New Deal artwork: "West Texas Landscape," an oil-on-canvas mural by Xavier Gonzalez. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and was completed in 1942.

The 4' x 15' mural "San Rafael Creek—1851" was completed in 1937, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural is housed in San Rafael's historic Mission Rafael post office.

Two New Deal murals by Stevan Dohanos: "New Deal mural entitled "Mining Village" painte by Stevan Dohanos in 1939. The mural was slated to be installed in the Huntingdon post office but the locals deemed it too depressing. It was then offered to the Logan, WV post office but declined. It finally was placed in the Forestry Building in Elkins. A second mural depicting a forest tower was painted as a compromise... New Deal mural entitled "Forestry Service" painted by Stevan Dohanos in 1939. This mural was painted as part of a compromise for the "Mining Villge" mural to be placed in...

A 2004 New York Times article by Seth Kugel describes a "...metallic-looking mural of four chiseled men working on an oil rig... affixed to the back wall of a dank, cluttered storage room under a school library in Soundview, the Bronx." Domenico Mortellito completed the mural in 1934 with funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Domenico Mortellito's daughter, Adria Mortellito Peterson, told the New York Times that the mural depicts "...the whole machine age, coming out of the Depression." Tom Porton, a teacher and coordinator of student activities on the campus where the mural is located, suspects that mural's industrial...

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Romance of Monroe," was completed by Ralf Henricksen in 1938 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural is currently displayed in the lobby of the Monroe Historical Museum, located in the old post office, which dates to 1910. From the New Deal Art Registry: "In 1972, the mural was moved to the Monroe Community College library when a new post office was built. The mural has since been moved back to the original building it was painted for but not the original location over the Postmaster's door."

This mural "Grizzly Bear and Cubs" was originally commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for Monrovia's Ivy Avenue Post Office in 1940. "Helen Katherine Forbes, a California artist, was awarded a contract to paint a mural for the post office in Monrovia, California in 1940. She painted two murals for the lobby of the old Monrovia Post Office which hung there until 1964 when the post office underwent extensive renovation. The mural of the four cubs was rolled up and stored in the post office basement. Sadly, recent efforts to locate the other mural have been fruitless, and its...

This 9' x 14'3" oil on canvas mural "Net Menders" by Jim Fitzgerald was painted with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. It was originally installed at North High School. It now hangs on the wall behind the bar in the Portola Restaurant inside the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Gus Gay painted this mural for the Federal Art Project, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  Gay was one of what Nancy Boas calls "the California Colorists" of the era. Nancy Boas notes that, "His mural for Monterey High School uses his characteristic late palette, strong on deep cerulean blue and chalky reds and pinks. The solid forms and simple architectural backgrounds reveal Gay's clarity of design." There may be two other murals in the high school whose provenance is also New Deal. More information is needed on those.

The two 2'6" x 30' panels of this mural "Children's Activities" by Lucile Ward were completed with the help of WPA Federal Art Project funds in 1938 and restored in 2001.

In 1934, Aurelius Battaglia painted two murals for the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood library,  "Animal Circus" and  "Animal Orchestra."   They occupy two reading alcoves off the Children's Room to this day. Funding was provided by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), an early New Deal relief program for unemployed artists. Later, Battaglia moved to California and joined Walt Disney, animating classics such as Dumbo, Pinocchio and Fantasia. Mount Pleasant is a branch of the DC public library system.  The lovely building was paid for by the Carnegie Foundation in 1903.

This 10' x 15' mural "Michelangelo in the Medici Gardens, 1490" was painted by Helen Finch in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.

"Characters From Children's Literature," consisting of two 6' x 20' panels, was painted by Charles Freeman in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.

This 6' x 20' mural "Mozart at the Court of Maria Theresa, 1762" was painted by Elizabeth Gibson in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project.

In 1937, Myer Shaffer painted a mural, "The Elder in Relation to Society," for the Mt. Sinai Home for Chronic Invalids in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The 400 square foot mural received funding from the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP). "Shaffer used his artwork to draw attention to social crisis, this time that of eldercare. He explained in the Hollywood Citizen-News that he placed biblical figures Judas Maccabee and King David in the foreground to illustrate 'that age does not incapacitate.' Yet the mural delivered a much stronger social message; in the upper detail of the fresco...

The Kansas City Municipal Auditorium facade is decorated with three bas relief carved medallions depicting classic themes. The medallions were created by Albert Stewart in 1934 as part of the PWA construction project. Albert Stewart was born in Kensington, England, immigrated to the United States in 1908 and was orphaned soon after arriving. He studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Art Students League of New York as a result of the support of Edwin Bechtel. He was an assistant to Paul Manship after WWI. He taught at Scripps College, moving to California where he lived until his...

Two Civil Works Administration murals were installed at the Municipal Auditorium Murals in San Antonio TX. Titled, "Texas Basket Maker Indians at their Daily Tasks," the murals were painted by Harry Anthony De Young and Gilbert F. Neumann. The murals for the auditorium walls were removed in 1935 by the mayor after the American Legion complained they had communistic symbols.  

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...

""Pre-Settlement Days" is a mural painted in 1939 by Ila Turner McAfee. It is an oil painting on canvas. It hung in the lobby of the Edmond Post Office for decades. It shows the open prairie before it was opened for settlement. Buffalo and antelope graze and roam on the plains, just like we sing about in the well-known song “Home on the Range”. When the post office closed and this building was remodeled to house the Edmond Municipal Courts, the new lobby did not have a location suitable for this mural. It was moved to the City Council Chambers...

The El Viejo Building in Modesto, California, features a splendid series of murals painted by Roy Boynton.  This was originally the downtown post office and Federal Building, and the murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) and mounted in 1936. The murals are arrayed high on the walls of the lobby. Boynton and several assistants painted a series of thirteen tempera murals depicting agricultural scenes in the Central Valley. Ten are lunettes and three are placed on the end wall to make a single, large mural. As one local reporter explained: "These are the scenes of the Central...

In 1936 Roland Schweinsberg was commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project to complete a 15-foot lunette titled "Old Bennett Pottery Plant," which depicts the 1839 pottery of James Bennett, East Liverpool's first commercial potter. In 1937 the painting was installed in the post office building in East Liverpool, which now houses the Museum of Ceramics. The painting remains on public display and hangs above the door to the museum's archives and library.

This mural "Unloading a River Barge" was painted by Ruth Grotenrath for the Hudson, WI post office with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. When a new post office was built in Hudson, the mural found a new home at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend.  

Edward Buk Ulreich painted two murals for the Columbia, Missouri, post office in 1937: "Indians Watching Stagecoach in the Distance" and "Pony Express." He was paid $1,580 for his murals, commissioned by the Department of the Treasury's Section of Painting and Sculpture. After the post office moved to a new location, the murals were moved to city offices where they stayed from 1967-2004. In 2010, they were installed at the National Archives at Kansas City, located in Missouri.

Richard Ayer create two artworks on the third floor of the visitors center (former Aquatic Park bathhouse) at the Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.  One is a bas relief "Nautical Abstractions" is composed of paint on plaster with embedded rope and piping.  The other is a mural, "Tugboats". Both pieces were completed in 1939 with the help of Federal Art Project (FAP) funds.

Hilaire Hiler created the massive 10' x 100' mural entitled "Lost Continents of Atlantis and Mu" that covers all four walls of the main entrance hall at the visitors center of the National Maritime Historical Park.  It is a fantastic representation of sea life that captures the imagination of visitors to this day. The method of painting was  "wax-emulsion variation of the Gambier-Parry spirit fresco process."   To save time Hiler began the work on canvas and carried it as far as possible before installation on the lobby walls.  Hiler was assisted by artists Lawrence Holmberg, Richard Ayer and Thomas Dowley. The...

The oil-on-plaster "Prismatarium" mural at the National Maritime Historical Park visitors center was designed by Hilaire Hiler to give "striking demonstrations on the relationship of color and light." It represents Hiler's fascination with color and his idea that he had found the perfect color palette. It covers the walls and ceiling of a circular room on the west side of the building. Originally, the light fixture revolved. Several other artists worked under Hiler on this mural, which was completed in 1939 and paid for by Federal Art Project (FAP) funds.  This and other murals in the building have been restored by the National...

A huge 14' x 125' glazed tile mural, "Sea Forms," was created by African American sculptor Sargent Johnson in 1939-40 for the bathhouse of the former San Francisco Aquatic Park, built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  It was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). It sits on the bayside balcony/terrace of what is now the visitors center for the National Maritime Historical Park. The mural is partially incomplete because Johnson and other artist's walked off the job in protest against the city's plans to install a private restaurant in a public building.  

Charles Nunemaker painted a 6' x 32' oil-on-canvas mural called "Sepia Seascape" for the women's bathroom on the second floor of the visitors center  at the Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California.    The mural was completed in 1940 with Federal Art Project (FAP) funds.   The San Francisco Aquatic Park was originally created by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), 1936-39.

In 1937, Domenico Mortellito painted habitat background murals for the Bird House and the Pachyderm (Elephant) House and added murals to the zoo restaurant.  These murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP), which aimed to put unemployed artists back to work.   Mortellito used a rubber-based paint for the animal house murals and carved linoleum for the restaurant.   It appears that all have been lost over the years, though two murals at the Bird House are said to survive (this  needs to be verified). Mortellito is shown in the photos below painting the background murals in the Elephant House, including...

The two panels of this mural titled "History of Transportation" are part of a 31' long panorama originally installed at Lawson School. The mural was painted by Gustaf Dahlstrom with support from the WPA's Federal Art Project.

"While a supervisor, Louis Schanker did several murals for the WPA. A series of 11 murals was done for the TB wards’ dining room at the Neponsit Beach Children’s Hospital in Rockaway Queens. The official pictures, taken for the WPA, are available on line from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. Some show him working on the murals while others must have been taken at the dedication ceremonies because he is shown wearing uncharacteristically formal attire. In the late 1970’s Schanker checked with the Hospital to see if the murals were still there. The Hospital had been converted into...

"This abstract mural by Rudolph Weisenborn, made in 1939, is a treasured New Deal artifact located in Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago." (Flynn and Polese) The mural is entitled "Contemporary Chicago." "Rudolph Weisenborns mural at Nettelhorst Elementary shows his interest in modern European painting styles such as Cubism. Fractured space, jagged lines, and vibrant primary colors convey Chicagos energy and modernity during the 1930s. On the left, an abstracted portrait of a sophisticated urban dweller is followed by forms of modern transportation such as small biplanes at Chicago Municipal Airport (Midway) and boats on Lake Michigan. The right half of the composition shows...

The 3'2" x 8'6" mural "Horses in Literature," which hangs in Chicago, Illinois's Nettlehorst School, was painted by Ethel Spears during the Great Depression with Federal Art Project funds.