Clearing the Right of Way (mural study, Garrett, Indiana Post Office)

Joe Cox, Clearing the Right of Way (mural study, Garrett, Indiana Post Office), ca. 1938, oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration
, 1962.8.66
Joe Cox, Clearing the Right of Way (mural study, Garrett, Indiana Post Office), ca. 1938, oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, 33 1429 38 in. (84.374.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration , 1962.8.66

Artwork Details

Title
Clearing the Right of Way (mural study, Garrett, Indiana Post Office)
Artist
Date
ca. 1938
Dimensions
33 1429 38 in. (84.374.6 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration 
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas mounted on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture — vehicle — train
  • Study — mural study
  • New Deal — Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture — Indiana
  • Architecture Exterior — civic — post office
  • Cityscape — Indiana — Garrett
  • Occupation — industry — lumber
  • Figure group — male
Object Number
1962.8.66

Artwork Description

During the 1930s, Joe Cox worked for the Works Progress Administration, a government-sponsored program that put artists to work and made them part of America’s workforce. He identified with manual laborers whose survival was at stake, and Cox’s mural study for the Garrett, Indiana, post office reflects his sympathies. He chose to show the loggers hard at work, their muscular bodies bending over their tasks. Garrett had been mapped out in the 1870s by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Chicago division of the B&O main line ran through, carrying people and goods to Baltimore and Washington, fueling Garrett’s economy and providing work for townspeople. During the Depression, however, the railroad’s consolidation led to many layoffs. This mural would have served as a reminder of the town’s heyday, when hard work and risk taking brought prosperity.

Works by this artist (1 item)

Ruben Ochoa, What if walls created spaces?, 2007, lenticular print mounted on aluminum composite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2015.42A-D, © 2007, Ruben Ochoa
What if walls created spaces?
Date2007
lenticular print mounted on aluminum composite
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Hockey, 2007, Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.32.194, © 2007, David Levinthal
Untitled from the series Hockey
Date2007
Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film
Not on view
Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts, 2017, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2018.1
The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts
Date2017
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Untitled, from the series Wagon Train
Date2018
pigment print mounted to dibond
Not on view