Detail of John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
Description
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.
John Steuart Curry painted “The Rush for the Oklahoma Land – 1889” (not 1894 as it says in the bronze plaque) and “The Homesteading and the Building of Barbed Wire Fences” in 1937-39. They were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and painted to honor the General Land Office and Grazing Service, precursors to today’s Bureau of Land Management, and hang on the 5th floor main corridor, north of the elevator 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 – available online). Artworks begin on p. 110.
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Detail of John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "Homestead and barbed wire fence", Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "Homestead and barbed wire fence", Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "Homestead and barbed wire fence", Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "The Okahoma Land Rush," Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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John Steuart Curry, "Homestead and barbed wire fence", Dept of Interior - Washington DC
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Plaque at Curry murals, Dept of Interior - Washington DC
Source notes
Look, David and Carole Perrault. The Interior Building: Its Architecture and Its Art. Washington DC: US Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1986. pp. 110-172. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015029850214&view=1up&seq=1
Project originally submitted by New Deal Art Registry on December 30, 2014.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal project site.
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