Post Office Mural – Vandalia MO

Description

This mural “Corn Harvest” by Joseph Vorst was painted for the Vandalia post office with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It depicts a classic regionalist subject with farmers harvesting corn, stacking the corn into shocks, and then transporting them on a cart pulled by two mules.  A barn is in the background and the right side of the mural features lunch for the men.  Some erosion is evident on the hill in the center and the tree roots on the right are exposed.

Joseph Vorst was born in Essen, Germany where he studied under Max Liebermann.  He immigrated to the United States and was successfully active, particularly between 1939-1942.