Men and Wheat (mural study, Seneca, Kansas Post Office)

Joe Jones, Men and Wheat (mural study, Seneca, Kansas Post Office), 1939, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.5
Copied Joe Jones, Men and Wheat (mural study, Seneca, Kansas Post Office), 1939, oil on canvas, 15 1⁄2 x 35 1⁄4 in. (39.3 x 89.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.5

Artwork Details

Title
Men and Wheat (mural study, Seneca, Kansas Post Office)
Artist
Date
1939
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
15 1⁄2 x 35 1⁄4 in. (39.3 x 89.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • New Deal — Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture — Kansas
  • Figure group
  • Occupation — farm — harvesting
  • Landscape — farm
  • Architecture — machine — farm machine
  • Study — mural study
Object Number
1965.18.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1965.18.5

Artwork Description

In 1939, when many New Deal programs were at risk of cancellation for political as well as economic reasons, Edward Bruce and Edward Rowan hoped to save the Section by enlisting popular support. They selected a post office in each state to receive a mural, and launched a nationwide competition. Hundreds of artists submitted designs in the Forty-Eight States competition, and winning sketches, among them Jones's Men and Wheat, William Bunn's Mississippi Packets, Jenne Magafan's Western Town, Edward (Buk) Ulreich's Advance Guard of the West, and Alton Tobey's The Last Halt were illustrated in Life magazine. Although an important group of murals resulted, the Forty-Eight States competition did not stimulate widespread public demand for a permanent fine arts program.

Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988