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The artist:
Frank
Mechau, 1904-1946Born
Frank Albert Mechau Jr. in Wakeeney, Kansas, Mechau spent most of his (abbreviated)
life in Colorado. In addition to the Brownfield
mural, he installed three canvases in the US Courthouse in Fort
Worth (now called the Eldon B. McMahon, courthouse).
Frank and his
devoted wife Pauline met in a Manhattan bookstore and sold their book collection
to finance a trip to Europe. To finance his art education he worked as a cowboy
for the railroad and engaged in prize fighting. He taught artist Ethel
Magafan who was also a noted muralist. One of his murals in Washington, D.C.
of Indians attacking a wagon train has become a point of controversy in recent
years for its portrayal of Native-Americans.
His wife Pauline (a Colorado
conservationist) supported the family after Frank’s untimely death by forming
a folk-singing group – made up of she and her children. She survived her husband
by 59 years, dying in her beloved Colorado at the age of 98 in 2005. |
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| "Ranchers
of the Panhandle Fighting Prairie Fire with Skinned Steer" by Frank Mechau |
Marker - "Fighting A Prairie Fire" by Frank Mechau
Photos courtesy
Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
Historical
Marker Text"Fighting
A Prairie Fire" by Frank
MechauMechau,
a resident of Colorado, was selected by the WPA to paint a mural for the Brownfield
Post Office which he completed in October of 1940. The work of Frank
Mechau stands as a magnificent documentation of The West. The promising
young artist died in 1946.
The artist described the mural in the following
way: "The prairie fire was a demon of the Panhandle. Sixty square miles of
range could be destroyed in a day's time. Once the flame befan to spread there
were few efficient ways to combat it. Plowing a line was too slow, backfiring
too dangerous. Cowboys would fight the fire with wet sacks or kill a steer and
partly skin it leaving the wet skin to drag behind in an effort to rub out the
edge of the fire."
Terry
County Historical Comm. |
"Fighting a Prairie Fire" detail
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
"Fighting a Prairie Fire" detail
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
WPA Mural "Fighting a Prairie Fire" Artist Frank Mechau's signature
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
WPA Mural "Fighting a Prairie Fire" hanging in the Brownfield Police
Station
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
The former Post Office is now the "Public Safety Building."
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
Brownfield Former Post Office cornerstone
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, March 2010 |
| A detail
from the mural was used for the cover of the book The Texas Post Office Murals.
Image left shows the detail as it appears in place, while the right side shows
a reverse image for the cover. |
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| BOOK
The Texas Post Office Murals: Art for the People |
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