Advance Guard of the West (mural study, New Rockford, North Dakota Post Office)

Eduard Buk Ulreich, Advance Guard of the West (mural study, New Rockford, North Dakota Post Office), ca. 1939-1940, tempera on fiberboard, 25 ⁷⁄₈ x 44 in. (65.7 x 111.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.33

Artwork Details

Title: Advance Guard of the West (mural study, New Rockford, North Dakota Post Office)
Artist: Eduard Buk Ulreich
Date: ca. 1939-1940
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 25 ⁷⁄₈ x 44 in. (65.7 x 111.8 cm.)
Credit Line: Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Mediums: tempera
Mediums Description: tempera on fiberboard
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: New Deal — Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture — North Dakota
Occupation — other — cowboy
Study — mural study
Equestrian
Object Number: 1965.18.33
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1965.18.33

Artwork Description

A winner in the Forty-Eight States competition, Ulreich's Advance Guard of the West was designed for the Safford, Arizona post office. When he received notice that he had won, however, Ulreich learned that the painting had been assigned to the post office in New Rockford, North Dakota. Although 972 artists sent in 1477 entries to the competition and identified the state for which they wished to compete, entries were not evenly distributed among the 48 post offices, and those designed from some areas did not measure up to Section standards. As a result the Section simply assigned winning designs to post offices for which no outstanding entries had been received.

In accepting his comission for the New Rockford post office, Ulreich wrote that he hoped the people of North Dakota would enjoy his Arizona cowboys. After further thought, however, he redesigned, and his finished mural showed Dakota Indians "arrayed in their hunting regalia."

Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988