Spring Pastoral, by Ted Gilien
Description
The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled “Spring Pastoral” painted by Joseph Meert in 1940.
A beautiful spring day outside Mount Vernon with farmers working in a strawberry field, the dairy cows to the left, barn in background and a tractor plowing on the right. In the far background, there is a town, Mount Vernon being the home of a large TB sanitarium. The scene is idyllic and is similar in this regard to other murals from the state.
Joseph Meert was born in Brussels, Belgium and immigrated to Kansas City in 1910. He trained at the Kansas City Art Institute and the student’s Art League in New York City. He became a lifelong friend of Jackson Pollock in 1931. He taught at the KC Art Institute from 1935-1941. He never became successful financially and died in 1990 in Waterbury, CT.
There is another mural by Meert in Spencer, Indiana.
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untitled-1-of-27
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"Spring Pastoral" Artist's Signature
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"Spring Pastoral" Detail
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"Spring Pastoral"
Source notes
Park and Markowitz, Democratic Vistas, Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, 1984.
Kerr and Dick, American Art Colony; The Art and Artists of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, 1930-1940.
https://www.wpamurals.com/missouri.htm
Project originally submitted by Charles Swaney on December 29, 2012.
Additional contributions by Tom Parker.
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