Udall Department of the Interior Building: Mopope Mural - Washington DC

State:: WASHINGTON-DC
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals
New Deal Agencies:: Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
Started:: 1939
Completed:: 1939
Artist:: Stephen Mopope
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.

Several Indian artists were invited to Washington in 1939-41 to study mural art and paint murals for the Interior Building.

Kiowa artist Stephen Mopope painted “Ceremonial Dance (Indian Theme)” in 1939, with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is a large (6′ x 50′) oil-on-plaster lunette on the east wall of the main cafeteria in the basement.

The Department of Interior Museum offers regular mural tours; check their website for information and registration. https://www.doi.gov/interiormuseum/tours

For more information on the Interior building, its art and the artists, see Look and Perrault 1986. 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

www.doi.gov

McLerran, Jennifer. 2009. A New Deal for Native Art: Indian Arts and Federal Policy, 1933-1943. University of Arizona Press.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Mopope

Site originally submitted by Charles Swaney on March 22, 2015.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.