- City:
- Paris
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
- Artist:
- Fred G. Carpenter
Description
Medium: oil on canvas
This mural, “The Clemens Family Arrives in Monroe County,” depicts the arrival of a young Samuel Clemens on horseback with his father, as Samuel points to his new home and women ride in a fancy carriage across a small stream. The Clemens family settled outside of Florida, MO in the area of present-day Mark Twain Lake.
The artist, Fred Carpenter, was born in Nashville, TN, moving to St. Louis and attending the Washington, University School of Fine Arts in 1900. He served as a consultant to the World’s Fair in St. Louis in 1904 and thereafter became a faculty member of the Washington University School of Fine Arts and remained there until 1952. He painted lunettes in the MO state capitol building. His wife described him as a “impressionist-realist-expressionist” and was described as a colorist by a former student who said his color had a jewel like quality. This is definitely evident in this work.
Source notes
Park and Markowitz, Democratic Vistas, Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal, 1984. https://www.newdealartregistry.org/Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on July 18, 2013.
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Esley Hamilton
This is my favorite New Deal mural in Missouri. So glad to see it here.