Start Year: 1940

William Sunners Playground, located in the Flatlands section of Brooklyn, was constructed using WPA materials and labor. New York City's Parks Department writes: "This playground was acquired by the City in 1940 and first opened to the public on April 12, 1941. It was one of four separate parcels in the area that were obtained by the City for park purpose, in response to a local need for more parkland. At the time, this triangular parcel was valued at approximately $8,000. Each of the four park parcels were laid out as playgrounds by Parks designers and developed with materials and labor provided...

This standard, Colonial Revival post office was built as a New Deal project. Examples of this building can be seen all over the country. This building serves as the central post office for the city of Warwick, and is notable for its 1942 mural by Paul Sample depicting local shellfishers.

This 1940 Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural by Lance W. Hart, "Construction of a Skid Road in the 80's," was painted for what was then the Snohomish post office. The mural remains in the original location, which is now the Snohomish city hall. “Artists like Hart were required to submit a series of sketches or designs for their murals before final approval. To see a sketch of “Construction of a Skid Road” that is housed in the National Archives, click here.” (depts.washington.edu)

The New Deal mural "Rural Arkansas" was painted for the historic Paris, Arkansas post office, where it still hangs today. "Joseph Vorst was commissioned for $740 to create this 4'x13' oil on canvas mural for Paris, Arkansas based on his winning entry in the 1939 48 States Competition. "The competition selected 48 winning artists to compose a mural for a each of the 48 continental states. Vorst's initial composition for Rural Arkansas was rejected due to the town's contention that it showed their community as both stereotyped and backward. Vorst thus redesigned his composition into the image that extolled the modern...

"My mural will picture the fusion between the great past of the Latin American lands, as it is deeply rooted in the soil, and the high mechanical developments of the United States." - Diego Rivera This 22' by 74' fresco on panels was commissioned from the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera by the organizers of the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island.  Rivera and his crew completed the piece in four months.  Rivera's largest free-standing work, "Pan-American Unity" was the centerpiece of Art in Action, an innovative exhibit where fair-goers could watch artists create their work. After the fair...

These two 50' x 45' low-relief polished marble mosaics depicting "Organic and Inorganic Science" by the Swiss-born artist Herman Volz are located in the south portico of San Francisco City College's Science Hall. Juan Breda served as assistant mosaicist for the project. The images represent fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics in tiny tiles. Text accompanying the mural reads 'Give me a base and I move the world.' Restored in 2005, the murals were originally part of the Golden Gate International Exhibition's "Art in Action" show on Treasure Island before they were moved to the college. "Completed on site,...

An oil-on-canvas mural entitled “Lumberman Log-Rolling” was painted for the Milford, New Hampshire post office in 1940 by Philip Von Saltza.  Mr. Von Saltza received $700 for his efforts according to the project's contract dated April 15, 1940.  The mural was completed and installed by the end of August.

This oil-on-canvas mural “Evangeline” was painted by Minetta Good in 1940. It has been moved from the old post office to this new location. The painting shows the fictive Acadian (French-American) heroine of the 1847 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem of the same name. Separated from her lover during a period of conflict with the British, Evangeline was an important figure in Acadian communities in Canada and the United States. In the early 20th century, city boosters from St. Martinville proclaimed their town the original immigration site of Evangeline from France. The mural depicts Evangeline seated in front of the famous...

This 1940 oil-on-canvas mural by George Goethke covers all 4 walls of the kindergarten room of Baywood Elementary School (formerly the George Hall School).

The oil-on-canvas mural “Loading Cattle” by James Turnbull was painted in 1940 for what was then the Jackson post office. That building is now the Chamber of Commerce, and the mural now hangs in the new post office. The mural was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is an excellent work of art with his use of cattle being loaded onto a cattle car, men on horses, and the train.  The intersecting and contrasting lines of the cattle car and the loading is particularly effective. This has an additional interesting story in that it was initially selected to be...