- City:
- Richmond, VA
- Site Type:
- Murals, Art Works
- New Deal Agencies:
- Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA), Arts Programs
- Completed:
- 1939
Description
The former Parcel Post Building in Richmond, Virginia housed multiple examples of New Deal artwork: murals by Paul Cadmus and Jared French, respectively, which were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.
Gerard French’s work was a mural: “Stuart’s Raiders at the Swollen Ford,” featuring companion portraits of Jeb Stuart, and John Pelham “in wings attached to either end of the scene.”
Believed to be removed from the Parcel Post Building in the 1960s, the mural was found rolled up in storage in Philadelphia. Since restored, the work is now housed in the library at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse, which is next door to the former Parcel Post Building.
Source notes
"Wall-to-wall America: Post Office Murals in the Great Depression," by Karal Ann Marling (pp. 282-287).
https://www.wpamurals.org/virginia.htm
Facilities manager, librarian at facility
https://kecobe.tumblr.com/post/99752716788/stuarts-raiders-at-the-swollen-ford-jared-french
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on April 18, 2017.
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Correction….Cadmus did not paint the Stuart’s Raiders mural. Description should read
Gerard French’s work was a mural: “Stuart’s Raiders at the Swollen Ford,” featuring companion portraits of Jeb Stuart, and John Pelham “in wings attached to either end of the scene.” Mural executed under the auspices of the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (later called the Section of Fine Arts) for the Richmond Parcel Post Building (subsequently transferred to the Lewis F. Powell, Jr. U.S. Courthouse Annex, Richmond, Virginia).
Oops! Sometimes these posts are generated using copy functions applied to similar posts, and I forgot to make the name switch. Thank you for the correction!
Are the murals by French and Cadmus on currently on display in the Lewis F. Powell Courthouse Annex, or simply stored there?
The murals were in the library. Whether or not they are still on display is debatable. The current circuit executive is woke as it gets.