Truman Federal Building (State Department): Sculptures - Washington DC

State:: WASHINGTON-DC
Site Type:: Art Works, Sculpture and Bas Relief
New Deal Agencies:: Federal Works Agency (FWA), Federal & Military Operations, Public Works Funding, Public Buildings Administration (PBA)
Artists:: Henry Kreis, Jean de Marco, Kindred McLeary
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Unknown

Description

The State Department was originally built for the War Department in 1940-41 and has been known since 2000 as the Harry S. Truman Federal Building. It is home to three sculptures commissioned for the original War Department building.

•An eagle over the building entrance by Harry Kreis (1942)

•A lime casein on plaster work entitled “Defense of the Four Freedoms” by Kindred McLeary (1941)

•”War and Peace” by Earl N. Thorp (1941)

Another work by Harry Kreis (1942), entitled “Soldier Groups,” was originally in the lobby of the War Department but has apparently disappeared (see comment below)

A fifth commissioned work, a bas-relief called “Peaceful Pursuits of American Life” by Jean de Marco (1942) was never completed, when the artist’s commission was terminated. The model for the work is supposed to be in storage, but cannot be located (see comments below)

The commissions for the artworks were selected by the Section of Fine Arts of the Public Buildings Administration – a continuation of the older Treasury Section of Fine Arts – in consultation with the building architects. Apparently, a mural was planned for the far end of the lobby, but this never came to be.