Sculpture and Bas Relief Sites

Hans E. Prehn created this plaster sculpture "Saw Mill," financed by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, for the old post office. It was moved to the Cotton Museum in the early 2000's and is not viewable in the front lobby.

This WPA bas-relief "CCC Workers" was carved for the school by Donal Hord in 1933. It shows CCC workers engaged in a variety of activities. The relief adorns the south entrance of the school auditorium. It has recently been restored with a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. South Pasadena Middle School students created this video about the relief.

" group of animals of cast terrazzo (a camel, burro, grasshopper, duck, hippopotamus and elephant), each approximately 26 inches long, 24 inches high and 12 inches wide, and variously colored coral, green and gray, were placed in the Child Care Center Playground of the Sunnydale Housing Project." - https://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Sargent_Johnson_and_His_Milieu Apparently Johnson, who was a friend of Bufano's, was careful not to use the same animals that Bufano used.

The carving of the Swinomish Totem Pole was a WPA project on the Swinomish Indian Reservation from 1937-1938. Tribal member Charlie Edwards carved a 61’ log into a visual representation of traditional teachings and guiding spirits that had formerly been held privately by families on the reservation. He topped the pole with a likeness of F. D. R. in gratitude for Roosevelt's support of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, which allowed tribes to govern themselves after years of federal management. President Roosevelt and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt were invited for the dedication on August 20, 1938, but, unable to attend, were...

The Mary E. Switzer Building was originally built for the Railroad Retirement Board in 1940. The building was constructed in conjunction with the original Social Security headquarters, now the Wilbur J. Cohen building.  The two stand across C street from each other.   The RRB/Switzer building is smaller and its ornamentation is simpler than that of the SSA/Cohen building.  Its only artworks are the granite bas-reliefs over the entrances by Robert Kittredge, "Railroad Employment" and "Railroad Retirement" (both 1941).  These works were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Both the Social Security Administration and the Railroad Retirement Board had to give...

This bas relief "Cotton and Tobacco" by Paul Rudin was completed with the help of Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1939. The Daily Record Newspaper office was previously the town's post office.

The Clan House is a replica of a community house representative of houses built in the early nineteen-century native villages of Southeast Alaska. It served as the chieftain's dwelling and it also housed several families part of his clan. The structure and its totem art did not originally existed on the current site. The site was a fish camp prior to being turned into a totem park. The paining decorating the façade was created by Charles Brown. It represents a stylized raven figure painted in light blue and brown colors. The eyes of the raven are composed as two stylized faces. Such elaborate...

A rock retaining wall was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1940 with the creation of Totem Square. The "Baranov" Totem Pole, also completed in 1941-42 as a project of the CCC under the supervision of the Forest Service. It was restored in 2010-2011 by local totem expert Tommy Joseph, using the original design drawing by George Benson, a local Tlingit. The Totem Pole has a controversial past surrounding both the construction of pole in Wrangell rather than Sitka as originally commissioned and for the original design, which many viewed as disrespectful and unrepresentative of the region's history. A...

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...

The Tumacácori National Monument was set aside by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 to protect the ruins of the Mission of San Jose de Tumacacori.  In 1918, it came under the administration of the National Park Service and its regional 'custodian', Frank Pinkley.  Congress created the Tumacácori National Historic Park in 1990, adding the ruins of two nearby missions, Los Santos Angeles de Guevavi and San Cayetano de Calabazas. Under the park service's guidance, Tumacácori mission church and its dependencies were stabilized in 1920-21, but intentionally not fully restored.  Only with the aid of the New Deal did the park come...

This limestone sculpture, "Law" (1941), depicting a young woman with a tablet stands across the lobby from James Hansen's "Young Lincoln." The informational plaque near the sculpture reads: "The Fine Arts Section of the U.S. Department of the Treasury commissioned this 8' sculpture by Archibald Garner (1904-1969) in 1939, based on an open and anonymous competition available to all sculptors west of the Mississippi for the decoration of the Los Angeles Post Office and Courthouse lobby. The sculpture was installed in 1941 and is carved from one block of Indiana limestone, primarily by hand. Inscribed on the tablet which the figure...

This limestone sculpture, "Young Lincoln" (1941), by James Hansen depicts a young, shirtless, pensive Lincoln holding a book. It stands across the lobby from Garner's sculpture of "Law." The informational plaque describes the statue: "The Fine Arts Section of the U.S. Department of the Treasury commissioned this 8' sculpture Young Lincoln by James Hansen (1917-) in 1939 based on an open and anonymous competition available to all sculptors west of the Mississippi for the decoration of the Los Angeles Post Office and Courthouse lobby. 'Young Lincoln' was exhibited in the Works Progress Administration Building of the 1939 New York World's Fair...

These cast stone eagle facades decorating the outside of the courthouse were carved by Henry Lion in 1938 with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

This walnut relief "Joy of Life" by Michael von Meyer depicting a mother and child was completed in 1937 with FAP funds.

The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC, by some of the finest American artists of the time.  Boris Gilbertson created two bas-reliefs for the building, titled "American Bison" and "American Moose," 1937-1939, with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.  They hang in the first floor corridor just north of the main lobby. The Department of Interior Museum offers regular mural tours; check their website for information and registration.  For more information on the Interior building, its art and the artists, see Look and Perrault 1986 (below...

The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC, by some of the finest American artists of the time.  Two large bas-relief panels are mounted on either side of the stage of the auditorium, one by Heinz Warneke and one by Ralph Stackpole.  Warneke's was commissioned in 1937 by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and installed in 1939; Stockpole's was commissioned in 1938 and installed in 1940.   The panels are 10' high by 4' wide.  Warneke's is cast stone and Stockpole's is Indiana limestone.  Heinz Warneke treats...

This 1' x 3.5' cast-concrete sculpture of an owl was produced with the help of the WPA Federal Art Project. The artist is unknown.

Bartholume Mako created two artworks for the auditorium foyer of Ventura High School in Ventura CA. One is a 12-foot high plaster sculpture titled "Roman Goddess" and the other is a 15 x 6-foot plaster frieze called "Roman Scene." They were paid for by the Federal Art Project of the Works Project Administration (WPA).

The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Walker County Home in Jasper. The exact location or condition of this facility is unknown to the Living New Deal.  

An 8' x 6' black granite sculpture of "St. Francis on Horseback" by Beniamino Bufano located in the central courtyard of the project. It was made in 1935 but not placed here until 1945.

The school grounds contain a small New Deal sculpture by Hugo Robus entitled "Girl Weeding." It was made in 1938, probably under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project of the WPA.

The Woodminster Amphitheater design is Art Deco (Moderne) by Edward Foulkes. This is especially clear in the appearance of the south facade, which looms over the cascade and the rest of the park (though now somewhat shrouded by untrimmed trees).   The capitals of the inward columns have capitals with lion-head reliefs and the two outer flanking columns are topped by human torsos.  Lower down, on the sides of the facade, are two bas-relief panels. The name of the amphitheater is inscribed along the top.  There are also decorative element on the ceiling of the corridor below. The design of the sculptures and...

"On Mackinac Island, several WPA engravers created incredibly detailed, two-sided oak signs showing scenes of the island's heritage." Hand-carved, many were created for placement outside the island's historic buildings. After decades of decay, Carpenter Dale Gensman rescued seven signs from disposal and undertook a multi-year project to restore them. According to the Oakland Press, "each sign stands about 3.5-feet-tall, 2.5-feet wide and weighs almost 300-pounds." As of 2017 the remaining seven signs, since restored, can be found at four different sites on the island, one in use and six on display:  in front of the Mackinac Island Courthouse;  on display at the Stuart House City Museum;...