New Deal Art in Warrenton

New Deal Art in Warrenton.

"My mural for the Warrenton, North Carolina, Post Office is simply a decorative landscape composed of animals in a pasture typical of the locale, and arranged in a design suitable to the architecture." , Alice Dinneen

, Art is a Necessity When President Roosevelt took office in 1933, the unemployed in the United States included 10,000 artists. George Biddle, an artist, wrote to FDR about the struggles of unemployed American artists. In the 1930s, the federal government recognized that art was a necessity and that art and the government were important during times of depression., L.W. Robert, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, wrote in 1933 that "The encouragement of art is a vital factor in our civilization and culture and should be continuously supported in depressed as well as boom periods.", North Carolina Pastoral , The Section of Fine Arts awarded Alice Dinneen her contract for the Warrenton mural on October 1, 1937. She would receive $680 for the successful completion and installation of a 5'11" × 14' mural in the Warrenton Post Office to be completed in 242 days. Postmaster C.F. Moseley (1938) wrote about Dinneen's mural stating is a "splendid piece of art and an addition to the office"., Step inside the Warrenton Post Office to view Alice Dinneen's 1938 New Deal mural., The Artist , Alice Dinneen (1907-1963) , Alice Dinneen was born in Bearsville, New York on February 23, 1907. She studied at the New York School of Applied Design for Women and at the Art Students League. She also painted the New Deal mural in Corbin, Kentucky, and she assisted artist Allan Gould, her husband, with his 1938 mural Gathering Tobacco in the Roxboro, NC post office., [Caption:] , During the Great Depression the federal government built over 1,100 post offices throughout the country as part of the New Deal including at least twelve in North Carolina., [Timeline:] , 1933: The Federal Emergency Relief Act was signed in May of 1933. , 1935: The Works Progress Administration was created in 1935. , Jan 1936: Site selected for new Post Office , Feb 1936: Site work began on Post Office property , Mar 1936: Fred Moseley appointed Postmaster , Oct 1936: $40,9813 contracted awarded to Upchurch Construction Co. of Montgomery, AL; Work to be completed in 210 days. , July 1937: New Post Office opened. First letter mailed by John Kerr, III, grandson of Congressman Kerr.