10 minute read
New Deal Intrigue
THE MYSTERY OF CLARKSVILLE’S MISSING MORA MURALS
BY FRANK LOTT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
With six partial columns lining a block of North Second Street, what became known locally as the “Federal Building” brought a classical revival twist to Downtown Clarksville in 1935. Boasting marble floors, large windows and broad steps leading to the street, this iconic structure originally housed Clarksville’s second post office... and a mystery that has captured the curiosity of local art and history enthusiasts for decades.
During the 1930s, as America struggled through the Great Depression, the federal government supported the arts in unprecedented ways. One such way was by decorating the walls of U.S. Post Offices with original murals created by well-known, but out-of-work, artists. Federal buildings constructed during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal were considered ideal locations for displaying images of the “American scene.”
Social realism painting, though popular at the time, was discouraged. Therefore, scenes of jobless citizens standing in bread lines are not to be found on post office walls. Instead, artists were encouraged to depict more “heroic” images of America at its best.
Directed by artist and former businessman Edward Bruce until his death in 1943, the Section was responsible for selecting art to adorn federal buildings. “Artists working for the Section were not chosen on the basis of need, but through anonymous competitions where the national jurors were often other artists,” said Raynor. “For smaller competitions, the jury might consist of the postmaster, a member of the architectural firm and a prominent citizen.”
Artists were paid from the building’s construction funds, one percent of which were to be designated for the “embellishment” of the building. Those selected were encouraged to pursue subjects of local interest.
“Once awarded a commission, the mural artist engaged in an oftenlengthy negotiation between the Post Office Department, the town and the Section before finally getting the finished mural on the wall.
Arrival of Colonel John Donaldson [sic] (design for mural) F. Luis Mora, 1938
Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Abundance of Today (mural study, Clarksville, Tennessee Post Office) F. Luis Mora, 1938
Courtesy of Smithsonian American Art Museum
Many local communities deemed the approved designs unacceptable due to theme, content, method of expression or design elements,” Raynor continued. “Artists were constantly reminded that the communities were their patron, and they went to great lengths to satisfy the desires of everyone involved in the project in order to save their commissions.”
Raynor described the murals as a “truly democratic art form,” crediting the fact that “post offices were located in virtually every community and available for viewing by all postal patrons.”
IN 1937, nationally renowned artist Francis Luis Mora was commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department and sent to Clarksville with an assignment to paint and install two original canvas murals in the newly completed U.S. Post Office located at 116 North Second Street.
Born in Uruguay in 1874 to an artistically inclined family, Mora later settled in New York City, where he established himself as an award-winning illustrator, portraitist and muralist. His credits include everything from illustrations in Harper’s Weekly, to World War I motivational posters, to a posthumous portrait of President Warren G. Harding. He taught illustration and life classes at several New York art schools, counting Georgia O’Keeffe among his students at the Art Students League. Sadly, by the 1930s, commissions and other work opportunities became few and far between.
F. Luis Mora (1874-1940)
Photographer unknown, 1910, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Mora’s two murals were inspired by a book about Clarksville titled Through the Mist of the Years written by Rev. Arthur E. Whittle, a former rector at Trinity Episcopal Church on Franklin Street. The first mural depicted the arrival of Colonel John Donelson and the Renfroe family by flatboat at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red Rivers on April 12, 1780. According to an article in the January 20, 1938 edition of The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, Mora titled the piece Arrival of the Renfroe Family. The article states, “The faces of this ill-fated little band of hardy settlers show strong character and great willpower. In the distance on the river can be seen the boat that brought the first white people to this community. The figures, of course, are dressed in rough pioneer clothing.”
Site for the Clarksville, TN post office
Photographer unknown, 1934, Archives Collection, Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
Construction of a post office in Clarksville, TN, looking northwest
Photographer unknown, Nov. 27, 1935, Archives Collection, Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
The second mural, titled The Abundance of Today, depicted the agricultural, industrial and business life of Clarksville as it was at the time of the painting. This mural showed laborers with factories, stores, farms, cotton and tobacco.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum retains two small full-color studies done by Mora, one for each of the proposed murals, that he submitted for approval before painting the final large canvases. Interestingly, the Smithsonian’s
documentation identifies Mora’s sketch as Arrival of Colonel John Donaldson (design for mural). Notice that John Donelson’s name is misspelled.
U.S. Post Office, Clarksville, Tenn. Postcard, ca. 1940
Austin Peay State University Felix G. Woodward Library, Archives & Special Collections
“Artists invited to submit design sketches for a particular post office were strongly urged to visit the site. However, this was not possible for every artist,” explained Raynor. “Distance, expense, or family commitment prevented many artists from actually traveling to the community.”
Luckily, that was not the case for Mora. He reported the details of his work, completed during his four-month residency in Clarksville, to Mr. Forbes Watson, Advisor of the Painting and Sculpture Section of the Treasury Department. The following letter from February 1938 to Mr. Watson gives insight into the artist’s planning, research, study sketches and painting of the two murals just after both had been installed in Clarksville’s newly-completed Federal Post Office:
Feb. 22, 1938 F. Luis Mora 58 West 57th Street New York, NY
Mr. Forbes Watson Advisor Section Painting and Sculpture Treasury Department Washington, DC
Dear Forbes:
You no doubt have us down (by this time) as one of the most hopeless cases that it has been your pleasant experience to run into. In the turmoil of things, I have truly snarled up my dates, (excepting as regards my work), and have done nothing this past month, but dig out letters and write humble apologies. I have pounded my pectorals and cried like the monks of old, "mea culpa!" I know, by a mostcharming note I received from Rowan, that the final photographs were safely received, and that the installed panels pleased.
You ask in your last "a lucid word account of the story, and characters in your mural." I have used two extreme episodes for these compositions. First—the family of Moses Renfroe who arrived at the spot where Clarksville now stands. This was in April 1780. They were brought there by a certain Colonel Donelson who was loath to leave them on account of the many hostile Indians known to live in that neighborhood. I have pictured the group on the top of the bank overlooking the little Red River. Donelson in conversation with the elder Renfroe. While others of the little party are still coming up the bank from the "good boat Adventure." This little group of settlers subsequently went up the Red River to the mouth of Parson's Creek, and built a log house and station for their immediate comfort and better protection, which was named "Renfroe's Station." "Shortly after they were settled, every one of them, including the babies, were killed by the Indians, except a Mrs. Hill, a few miles from the Station, which still bears the honored leader's names."
The second panel. The Abundance of Today. Showing the many resources of Tennessee. Their tobacco—corn—cotton. Lumber and the marble of their quarries. In the background the mills and factories, giving to the composition a sense of achievement—the victory after that first sacrifice. I hope this does not sound all muddled up. Let me know if it gives you a clear idea to build on.
I know that I could have given you something with, perhaps, a better touch of letters. I have not troubled, in the belief that you will take better care of that than ever I could manage to do. Should you wish to question me further, rest assured that I will give you prompt reply this time.
With many good wishes,
Yours cordially, F. Luis Mora
February 22nd 1938
(Transcription of Mora’s handwritten letter provided April 27, 2005 by David Bibb, Former Acting Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration.)
Lobby of the Federal Building (Post Office)
Photographer unknown, 1938, Archives Collection, Customs House Museum & Cultural Center
The completed murals each measured five feet high by twelve feet long. They were painted on rolled canvas and installed onto the north and south walls of the post office lobby, where they remained for approximately 25 years.
UNFORTUNATELY, CLARKSVILLE’S MURALS BY F. LUIS MORA have been lost; some sources even say “destroyed.” During a renovation to the building in the early 1960s, they reportedly were removed and stored… but by whom and where? This has been a lingering mystery for nearly 60 years. Locally, the only remaining evidence of the murals is in the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center’s collections, which consists of two black-and-white photographs of the completed murals, plus one photo showing the mural The Abundance of Today in situ after being installed in the post office lobby.
The major body of Mora’s art spanned a period of over four decades, and he is considered by many art historians to be America’s first Hispanic Master. Mora died on June 5, 1940 in New York City, just over two years after completing the murals in Clarksville’s main post office. He was 64.
Mora’s works are currently held by or on display in over 30 museums across the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. The Customs House Museum & Cultural Center also has 77 Mora pencil drawings and sketches, not related to the murals, in its Thomas Brumbaugh collection.
Sadly, many of the Great Depression-era post office murals across the country have disappeared due to closings, renovations or privatization. Those that have survived need repair and conservation. Communities fortunate enough to have one of these murals can enjoy a colorful record of their heritage, and give us all a glimpse of the American public's taste during a fascinating time in our nation's history.
To view and learn more about America’s post office murals or see more images, visit wpamurals.org and livingnewdeal.org.
To see more works by Francis Luis Mora in the Museum collection, visit customshousemuseum.org/collections/ explore-the-collections.
Quotes by Patricia Raynor are excerpted from the article “Off the Wall: New Deal Post Office Murals” in Volume 6, Issue 4 of Enroute, the newsletter of the National Postal Museum.
