Courthouse Murals – Wichita KS

Description

“Oil-on-canvas murals, painted in 1935-1936, are located on the east and west walls of the lobby. Artists J. Ward Lockwood and Richard Haines received the commissions through a post office mural project awarded by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Painting and Sculpture Section.^[2]

“Pioneers in Kansas,” the mural by Lockwood (a Kansas native), is a collage of images associated with role and evolution of the Postal Service during the settlement of the western United States. A stagecoach laden with mail and passengers marks the center of the canvas, with the other images radiating around it. A Pony Express rider and a Native American exchange fire on the left side of the canvas. A vulture flies above the rider, symbolizing imminent danger and death. A pioneer couple stands on the right side of the canvas, the woman reading a letter. A black steam engine emerges behind the couple, symbolizing continued western expansion.^[2]

“Kansas Farming,” the mural by Haines, depicts various aspects of rural life and farm production, focusing on the importance of urbanization, industrialization, and technology to the economic growth of the region. Rolling hills ripe with the bounty of the fall harvest comprise the idealized rural landscape. Tall corn and sunflower plants frame the center panel of the canvas, in which a farmer on horseback visits his neighbors. Nearby, a young girl holds mail in both hands as the boy waves to an unseen mail plane. A farmer feeds corn to his hogs and looks toward a group of produce packers on the left side of the canvas. In the distant background, a small town with a railroad depot and grain elevator represent the growing role of industry in agriculture.”