- City:
- Luverne, AL
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
- Artist:
- Arthur Getz
Description
The historic Luverne, Alabama post office houses an example of New Deal artwork: “Cotton Field,” a mural commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, painted by Arthur Getz in 1942.
Alabama Moments: “Getz received the commission for Luverne on the basis of designs he had submitted for a competition for the War Department building. As a northern artist he was warned by the Section when he proposed the theme of cotton: “It will be necessary for you to acquaint yourself thoroughly with the appearance of a cotton plant as the individuals using this post office will be especially observant on this point.” Getz consulted southern painters as well as researching the growing of cotton while he worked on the mural. The story of the completion of Getz’s mural was all too familiar late in the Section program. He had received the commission for the Luverne mural in May of 1941. In February of 1942, while completing the project, he needed a letter for his draft board from the Section to allow him to finish the work. Getz seems to have managed to complete the mural and send it to Luverne for installation only a week or ten days before he was to be inducted into military service.”
Following alleged complaints regarding the content of the mural, it was covered with plastic in August 2020 while USPS determines its fate.
Source notes
https://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec49det.html
https://www.wpamurals.org/luverne.htm
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Cheyenne
Brenda McComas
Westley Williamson
Dinah
keithcoppola
RealDeal
Mural paintings are always a feast to the eyes.A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other permanent surface. Great information on mural paintings!
Was he payed for his work?
Luverne Alabama You are now on fb removal list by postal workers
One from the facility there has started the movement on Mailhandler site an its growing to have it removed.
They say it’s racist an offensive like the statues heads up
This country with the terrible shape it’s in and this is where we are with our bickerings, truly sad. With homelessness in some amount nearly in every city and State,unemployment reaching into the millions,and countless THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY SINGLE DAY DYING FROM COVID-19 and SOMEWHERE STILL IN THIS ONCE GREAT NATION,there remains a group steadfast an focussed on the tearIng down of our Historical Monuments,Statues, and now also Murals. Its almost Identical with how Hitler began his rise of the Third Reich.And that is more truth than many can stomach.BUT TRUTH ISN’T ALWAYS COMFORTABLE,OR WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR, HOWEVER ,MORESO NOW THAN EVER, IN FACT IT IS WHAT WE NEED.This deserves attention on a scale much greater than unfortunately many realize for these Monuments, Statues an Murals WERE NOT CREATED TO PROMOTE A RACIST AGENDA . Allow me to explain in further detail for quite some time I have felt this has gone unsaid.Or if you will,unexplained for,NOT JUST THOSE,whom by there own account or those who allowed themselves to join with the collective ignorance of this mysterious “group” so eager to destroy our many markers of significant moments throughout our nations history. These Monuments Statues and Murals serve as a reminder of how things once were and shall never be again hopefully they serve as a constant reminder of how a nation of people can move forward together leaving the injustices and pain of the past in the past they allow the young to become interested in the meaning of themselves and what lessons they are attempting to convey. They are not racist, arguments as such are all unjustifiable when anyone with sound reasoning examins the words I have just left for all to digest. I close with this question, What shall happen to the people of a nation whom are unable to remember their past what terrible injustices that their forefathers and mothers endured. What shall become of a people such as that? GOD BLESS
To those victims and their families who were and still are affected by the atrocities of slavery these things are very painful and if you really care and are not just a racist you would try to understand that!
I understand everyone’s perspective but maybe the mural needs a bit of context. Arthur Getz was an activist artist and a firm believer in equal rights for all people. His murals are educational and as an expert on him and his wife I can assure the rational behind his work is about food sources and how America worked at the time. His ex wife was also an activist for equal rights an artist and a ballerina. Her first husband a Spanish speaker master artist a disciple of Picasso. Her best friend was dancer Tamiris Becker an activist who promoted racial equality and harmony in her dance career. One of their best freinds was Paul Robeson look him up!!!!!
Unfortunately, the mural wasn’t covered until December 2023, almost 4 years after the date mentioned in the article. Caucasian postal workers are sharing with customers that the artist’s work will be placed in The Smithsonian museum due to the rarity & reasoning of the artwork during the times in which it was dedicated with similar displays at 17 other post offices all over the U.S. Also, do not forget Crenshaw county was still carrying out their lynching practices during this era. The third of 4 lynchings had occurred. The New Deal was suppose to balance the national economy for all tax payers, but injustices, social fear, & poverty still plagued the south & those who wanted it to endure forever. However, the more things “change”, it all remains the same…with or without a racist mural in the post office. Luverne is a quaint little town without a vision for a more successful future for all blacks & the poor uneducated whites of Crenshaw county. Not just The New Deal, but “The Deal” in the southern regions of the United States of America.