Murals in El Viejo Building (Old Post Office) - Modesto CA

City:: Modesto, CA
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals
New Deal Agencies:: Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
Completed:: 1936
Artist:: Ray Boynton
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: Yes
Site Survival:: Partially Extant

Description

The El Viejo Building in Modesto, California, features a splendid series of murals painted by Roy Boynton. This was originally the downtown post office and Federal Building, and the murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) and mounted in 1936. The murals are arrayed high on the walls of the lobby.

Boynton and several assistants painted a series of thirteen tempera murals depicting agricultural scenes in the Central Valley. Ten are lunettes and three are placed on the end wall to make a single, large mural. As one local reporter explained: “These are the scenes of the Central Valley half a century ago. They are the dramatic reminders of a heritage that sustained a nation through the Great Depression… ” (Matthews, 1983).

Six of the lunettes went missing during a building renovation in the 1960s, but two were returned in 2011, when the building was sold off (“Picking fruit” and “Gold panning”). Note that these two are not mentioned in the two information panels on the murals.

The new owners did a fine job of restoring the lobby and its original skylights, and the lobby remains open to the public.