List of New Deal murals

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City Life, one of the Coit Tower murals in San Francisco, Calif.

The List of New Deal murals is a list of murals created in the United States as part of a federally sponsored New Deal project. This list excludes murals placed in post offices, which are listed in List of United States post office murals. Source is Park and Markowitz’s Democratic Vistas unless otherwise specified.

Alabama

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
History Museum of Mobile[1]			John Augustus Walker

Alaska

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Arizona

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Arkansas

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

California

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
George Washington High School (San Francisco)	Life of Washington		Victor Arnautoff	1936	13 scenes [2]
Santa Monica Public Library	Invention and Imagination		Stanton Macdonald-Wright	1935
Coit Tower	Metropolitan Life[3]		Victor Arnautoff
Canoga Park High School	Assembly Hall (2)[4]		Helen Lundeberg		Petrachrome
Mother's House, Fleishhacker Playground	End walls of the loggia[5]		Helen Bell Bruton, Margaret Bruton		Tile mosaic	PWAP
Mother's House, Fleishhacker Playground	Evolution of Noah's Ark		Dorothy Puccinelli, Helen Forbes		Tempera	PWAP
Los Angeles County Hall of Records	Landing of Cabrillo — 1542[6]		Charles H. Davis		Tempera	FAP
	Recreations of Long Beach[6]		Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Henry Allen Nord, Albert King		Mosaic	FAP

Colorado

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs[7]	“Classic American theater”[8]		Ward Lockwood	1935–36[9]	slated for removal[9]

Connecticut

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Delaware

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

District of Columbia

New Deal art was installed in the Social Security building (now HHS), the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice building, the Department of Labor building (now Customs and Immigration), the Apex building (now Federal Trade Commission), the Government Printing Office Annex, the Home Owners Loan Corporation, the National Zoological Park, the District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds building, the Procurement Division Building (now National Capitol Region Office Building, General Services Administration), and the War Department (now Department of State).^[10]

Elsewhere than government building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Howard University	Emancipation of the American Negro[11]		Daniel Boza	1938

Social Security Building

Further information: Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Social Security Building	Sports Related to Food		Dorothy Farr, Fred Farr	1941	Stored in National Museum of American Art
Social Security Building	Wealth of the Nation, Security of the People		Seymour Fogel	1942
Social Security Building	Activities of Four Parts of the Country		Gertrude Goodrich	1943	Stored in National Museum of American Art
Social Security Building	Reconstruction and Well-Being of the Family		Philip Guston	1942	Stage curtain in auditorium	non-mural, non-sculpture
Social Security Building	Mountains in Snow		Jenne Magafan, Ethel Magafan	1949
Social Security Building	Work, the Family, and Social Security, Child Labor, Unemployment, and Old Age		Ben Shahn	1942	fresco

Main Interior Building

Further information: Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Main Interior Building	Dance Festival		James Auchiah	1939
Main Interior Building	Conservation of the National Parks		Gifford Beal	1941
Main Interior Building	Conservation—Western Lands		Louis Bouche	1938	”in storage” circa 1984
Main Interior Building	Desert, Irrigation, Gathering Dates, Apples		Nicolai Cikovsky	1938
Main Interior Building	Deer, Peyote Bird and Symbols, Stealing Horses, Flute Player, Courting, Buffalo Hunt		Woodrow Crumbo	1940	Native American artist
Main Interior Building	Rush for the Oklahoma Land—1889 and The Homesteading		John Steuart Curry	1939
Main Interior Building	Bureau of Indian Affairs		Maynard Dixon	1939
Main Interior Building	Placer Mining, Fighting Forest Fire, and Winter Round-Up		Ernest Fiene	1938
Main Interior Building	Construction of the Dam		William Gropper	1939
Main Interior Building	“Indian themes”		Velino Herrera	1939	Nine panels
Main Interior Building	Singing Love Songs and Apache Round Dance		Allan C. Houser	1940
Main Interior Building	Indian Murals		Allan C. Houser and Gerald Nailor	date unknown
Main Interior Building	National Parks		David McCosh	1940
Main Interior Building	Indian Theme		Stevan Mopope	1939
Main Interior Building	Hunting Ground and Initiation Ceremony		Gerald Nailor	1940
Main Interior Building	Alaska and Insular Possessions		James Michael Newell	1939
Main Interior Building	Conservation of Wildlife		Henry Varnum Poor	1939	Fresco
Main Interior Building	The Negro’s Contribution in the Social and Cultural Development of America		Millard Sheets	1943	The Arts, Religion, Education, Science

Department of Justice

Further information: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Department of Justice	Contemporary Justice and Man		John Ballator	1937	tempera
Department of Justice	Society Freed Through Justice		George Biddle	1936	Fresco
Department of Justice	Contemporary Justice and Woman		Emil Bisttram	1939	oil on canvas
Department of Justice	Activities of the Department of Justice		Louis Bouche	1937	oil on canvas
Department of Justice	Movement of the Population Westward, Law Versus Mob Rule		John Steuart Curry	1937	oil on canvas
Department of Justice	The Triumph of Justice, The Defeat of Justice		Leon Kroll	1937	oil on canvas
Department of Justice	Justice Department Bureaus and Divisions		Henry Varnum Poor	1936	fresco
Department of Justice	Great Events and Figures of the Law		Boardman Robinson	1936	tempera
Department of Justice	Contemporary Justice—the Child		Symeon Shimin	1940	tempera
Department of Justice	Man’s Struggle for Justice		Maurice Sterne	1941	oil on board; 20 panels

Department of Labor Building

Further information: Department of Labor Building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Department of Labor	Construction, Power, and Transportation		Charles Trumbo Henry	1938	oil on canvas

National Zoo

Further information: National Zoological Park (United States)

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
National Zoo	Noah’s Ark, Habitat Backgrounds in Bird and Pachyderm Houses		Domenico Mortellito	1937	mural

Washington, D.C. Recorder of Deeds

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	Crispus Attucks		Herschel Levit	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	The Death of Colonel Shaw at Fort Wagner		Carlos Lopez	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	The Battle of New Orleans		Ethel Magafan	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	Matthew Henson Planting the American Flag at the North Pole		Austin Mecklem	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	Cyrus Tiffany at the Battle of Lake Erie		Martyl Schweig	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	Frederick Douglass Appeals to President Lincoln		William Edouard Scott	1943
D.C. Recorder of Deeds	Benjamin Banneker		Maxine Seelbinder	1943

Procurement Division Building

Further information: United States General Services Administration Building

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Procurement Division Building	Construction of Treasury buildings and Procurement Division activities		Harold Weston	1936–38	TRAP, 22 panels, oil on canvas

Florida

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Georgia

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Hawaii

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Idaho

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Illinois

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Legler Library, Chicago	Father Marquette's Winter in Chicago		Richard Fayerweather Babcock	1934	[12]

Indiana

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Iowa

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Kansas

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Kentucky

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Louisiana

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Maine

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Maryland

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Massachusetts

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Michigan

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
East Lansing, Michigan Auditorium, MSU	Proclamation of Emancipation		Charles Pollock	1943		[13]
	We Assure Freedom to the Free			1944		[13]
	The Modern Man I Sing					[13]
Lansing, Michigan John F Dye Water Conditioning Plant	Beneficial Force of Water		Frank Cassara	1940		[13]
	Water as Destructive Element					[13]
	Water as Hydro-Electric Power		Charles Pollock			[13]

Minnesota

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Mississippi

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Missouri

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Montana

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Nebraska

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Nevada

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

New Hampshire

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Federal Building (Laconia, New Hampshire)	Wildlife in White Mountains		Musa McKim	1941	Former U.S. Forestry Building[14]	[15]

New Jersey

^[16][11]

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Newark City Hall	History of Newark		Michael Lenson
Weequahic High School	History of the Enlightenment of Man		Michael Lenson
Roosevelt Community Center	Social and political liberty and justice		Ben Shahn
Atlantic City Stanley Holmes Village	Education of the Colored Man		Aaron Douglas
Camden Westfield Acres	Industrial Scenes		Grace Greenwood, Marion Greenwood,			buildings demolished; National Archives images of murals (?)
Newark Museum	Mechanics of Flying, Aerial Map		Arshile Gorky	1937	2 of original 10 survive; originally at Newark Airport Admin Bldg.[17]

New Mexico

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Rogers Hall New Mexico Highlands University Las Vegas	Dissemination of Education on New Mexico		Lloyd Moylan	1937		NRHP[18]
Alamagordo Federal Building	Sun and Rain, Sorghum, Yucca		Peter Hurd	1940	fresco
Santa Fe Santiago E. Campos United States Courthouse	Old Santa Fe Trail, Taos Mountains, Monument Rock, Acoma, Old Cuba Road, Cabezon[11]		William Penhallow Henderson		Six panels, TRAP, begun under PWAP	1974

New York

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

North Carolina

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

North Dakota

^[10]

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Ohio

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Lakeview Terrace Housing Project, Cleveland	Legends and Fairy Tales[11]	Earl J. Neff	1938	Mural frieze
Lakeview Terrace Housing Project, Cleveland	Children Playing	Charles Campbell (artist)	1938	2 murals
United States Industrial Reformatory, Chillicothe	Vocational Training in the Reformatory	E. Paul Wilhelm	1938	2 murals

Oklahoma

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Oregon

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Pennsylvania

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Puerto Rico

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Rhode Island

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

South Carolina

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Aiken	Justice as Protector and Avenger		Stefan Hirsch	1938	oil on canvas Charles E. Simons Jr. Federal Court House Controversy once caused the mural to be covered and only visible to the public upon request[19]

South Dakota

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Tennessee

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Texas

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed
Eldon B. Mahon United States Courthouse, Fort Worth	The Taking of Sam Bass		Frank Mechau	1940	oil on canvas[20]
Eldon B. Mahon United States Courthouse, Fort Worth	Texas Rangers in Camp		Frank Mechau	1940	oil on canvas[20]
Eldon B. Mahon United States Courthouse, Fort Worth	Flags Over Texas		Frank Mechau	1940	oil on canvas[20]

Utah

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Vermont

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Virgin Islands

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Virginia

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Washington

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Wisconsin

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

Wyoming

Location	Mural title	Image	Artist	Date	Notes	NRHP listed

See also

• List of New Deal sculpture
• List of Native American-themed murals
• List of United States post office murals
• List of United States federal courthouses
• List of Art Deco architecture in the United States

References

1. "In his own words: the story of Lynchburg freedman Charley Mitchell". Appetite 4 History. 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
2. "A school's mural removal: Should kids be shielded from brutal US history?". TheGuardian.com. 20 May 2019.
3. Gelber, Steven M. (1979-07-01). "Working to Prosperity: California's New Deal Murals". California History. 58 (2): 98–127. doi:10.2307/25157905. ISSN 0162-2897. JSTOR 25157905.
4. “The WPA Projects: PUBLIC ART THROUGHOUT THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY." Los Angeles Times, Nov 13, 1994, pp. 1.
5. "The San Francisco Examiner 14 Jan 1934, page 44". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
6. South, Will; Yoshiki-Kovinick, Marian; Armstrong-Totten, Julia (2008). A seed of modernism: the Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906–1953. Pasadena, Calif. : Berkeley, Calif: Pasadena Museum of California Art ; Heyday Books. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-59714-076-8. OCLC 144547803.
7. "University of California: In Memoriam, April 1964". texts.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
8. "Classic American Theater Characters". PeakRadar.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
9. "Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center to remove controversial murals | Arts & Entertainment | gazette.com". gazette.com. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
10. Park, Marlene; Markowitz, Gerald E. (1984). Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-348-3. OCLC 10877506.
11. The Art Digest 1938-07-01: Vol 12 Iss 18. Arts Communications Group, L.P. 1938-07-01.
12. Gray, Mary Lackritz, A Guide to Chicago’s Murals, foreword by Franz Schulze, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2002 pp.108-109
13. New Deal, Government Architecture, Murals & Sculpture of the 1930s & 1940s: A Walking Tour of East Lansing & Lansing, photographs from the Balthazar Korab Collection, 1988
14. "Forestry Building Murals – Laconia NH". The Living New Deal. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
15. "NP Gallery, Forestry Building". National Park Service. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
16. York, Hildreth; White, Stuart (1980-03-23). "Stalking the Post Office Mural: An Artful Odyssey". The New York Times. p. NJ1.
17. L.shirey, David (1982-06-13). "ART; GORKY'S AIRPORT MURALS AT THE NEWARK MUSEUM". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
18. Flynn, Kathryn A., Treasures on New Mexico Trails: Discover New Deal Art and Architecture , Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico 1995 p. 61
19. Marling, Karal A. (1982). Wall-to-Wall America : A Cultural History of Post Office Murals in the Great Depression (First ed.). University of Minnesota Press. pp. 300 to 364. ISBN 9780816611171.
20. "Eldon B. Mahon U.S. Courthouse". General Services Administration. Retrieved November 15, 2022.