State Capitol Building Decorations – Cheyenne WY

Description

“However reluctant to see their state go on the federal dole, Cheyenne officials accepted, in June, 1933, Wyoming’s first New Deal relief allotment. By December some 8000 Wyomingites were at work on jobs financed by the Civil Works Administration. A handful of these people -perhaps a half dozen -were part of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), working in Cheyenne. This federal agency lasted only about six months and its work in Wyoming was minimal; a mural in McCormick Junior High in Cheyenne, and some decorative work in the State Capitol Building, but the tasks were the first example of federal arts patronage in Wyoming.”

The State Capitol decorations involve the building’s dome; “Libbie Hoffman and Jeanette Kaiser … worked on the capitol dome, decorating its inner surfaces with gold leafing and replicas of the state and territorial seals. Archival records in Washington indicate that a third artisan, William Reed of Laramie, also worked for a time on this job. Porter had suggested the project and had arranged it with state officials.”