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PURCELL
OKLAHOMA POST OFFICE MURAL"The
Roundup"
1940 |
"The
Roundup" detail - Purcell Oklahoma PO mural by Frederick
Conway
TE photo, April 2009 |
| The Purcell post office
mural remains in place where it was installed in 1940, however the installation
was not as simple as it sounds. As explained in the excellent book Wall to
Wall America: Post Office Murals in the Great Depression, author Karal Ann
Marling gives the story of two artists, two murals, a judging committee and some
very unhappy townspeople who voiced their preference (loudly) and got what they
wanted. |
Frederick
Conway had originally been awarded the mural commission for Jackson, Missouri
with a sketch showing four cows in a bucolic setting. Artist James Turnbull had
submitted a more action-packed sketch showing cattle being loaded onto railroad
cars. It was decided that Turnbull’s mural was to be placed in Purcell, Oklahoma
but an outcry arose from the people of Jackson who objected to the pastoral cows,
wanting the more up-to-date “Loading Cattle.”
The judges declared
that Purcell, Oklahoma and Jackson, Missouri “switch” muralists. This was done,
but eventually, Purcell, Oklahoma ended up with the mural shown here – a second
work by Conway, not the original work involved in the controversy. |
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Purcell
Oklahoma Post Office mural "The Roundup" by Frederick
Conway
TE photo, April 2009 |
Purcell
Oklahoma PO mural "The Roundup" detail
TE photo, April 2009 |
Purcell
Oklahoma PO mural "The Roundup" detail
TE photo, April 2009 |
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