Udall Department of the Interior Building: Britton Murals - Washington DC

State:: WASHINGTON-DC
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals
New Deal Agencies:: Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
Completed:: 1939
Artist:: Edgar Britton
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: Yes
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior building contains one of the largest collections of New Deal art in Washington DC, by some of the finest American artists of the time.

Edgar Britton painted “Petroleum Industry: Production” and “Petroleum Industry: Distribution and Use” in 1939, with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. These frescoes to recognize the Petroleum Division of the Bureau of Mines are hung in the 4th floor main corridor, north of the elevator lobby.

The Department of Interior Museum offers regular mural tours; check their website for information and registration.

For more information on the Interior building, its art and the artists, see Look and Perrault 1986 (below – available online). Artworks begin on p. 110.

Source notes

Look, David and Carole Perrault. The Interior Building: Its Architecture and Its Art. Washington DC: US Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1986. pp. 110-172. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015029850214&view=1up&seq=1

Department of the Interior

Site originally submitted by New Deal Art Registry on December 30, 2014.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.