Sandbagging the Bulkheads (mural study, Cairo, Illinois Post Office)

Wendell Jones, Sandbagging the Bulkheads (mural study, Cairo, Illinois Post Office), 1942, tempera, ink and pencil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration
, 1962.8.60
Copied Wendell Jones, Sandbagging the Bulkheads (mural study, Cairo, Illinois Post Office), 1942, tempera, ink and pencil on fiberboard, 23 7836 in. (60.891.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration , 1962.8.60

Artwork Details

Title
Sandbagging the Bulkheads (mural study, Cairo, Illinois Post Office)
Date
1942
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
23 7836 in. (60.891.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration 
Mediums Description
tempera, ink and pencil on fiberboard
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group
  • Figure group — male
  • Occupation — labor
  • Study — mural study
  • Landscape — Illinois — Cairo
  • New Deal — Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture — Illinois
Object Number
1962.8.60

Artwork Description

Consultation with local citizens regarding a mural's theme was sometimes insufficient to guarantee a mural's success. To prepare for his Cairo, Illinois commission, Wendell Jones talked with citizens who expressed pride that, despite periodic flooding of the Missouri River, the people of Cairo rallied and "not a drop of water ever got into the streets." In Sandbagging the Bulkheads Jones hoped to convey the epic heroism of citizens joining together, regardless of social class, to protect their city from impending disaster. On completion of the mural, however, citizens rebelled against a permanent reminder of the recurring threat. The Section succumbed to local objection and advised Jones not to install his painting. The mural has subsequently been lost.

Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988