A Short History of McCosh’s Designs for the Murals The Opening

A Short History of McCosh’s Designs for the Mural The Opening of the Middle West

August 2007

IN APRIL 1935, David McCosh was among a limited group of painters from across the United States who were invited to compete for a commission from the Painting and Sculpture Division of the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department to paint a set of murals for the new Post Office and Justice Department buildings in Washington, D.C. This invitation was no small honor. Each member of a special Advisory Committee, consisting of many prominent museum professionals, a number of well-known painters and sculptors, and several national political and government figures were each asked to nominate artists in the United States who they felt “were best fitted to carry out the painting and sculpture for the two buildings.” Eleven painting commissions were awarded outright to the painters who received the most votes from the Advisory Committee, and they include many of the best-known American painters of the day: Thomas Hart Benton, George Biddle, John Steuart Curry, Rockwell Kent, Leon Kroll, Reginald Marsh, Henry Varnum Poor, Boardman Robinson, Eugene Savage, Maurice Sterne, and Grant Wood.

The Committee decided to give the other painters who were nominated but received fewer votes the opportunity to compete for the remaining eleven painting commissions, and the young David McCosh was one of the 175 painters who accepted the invitation to enter this competition. Each painter was assigned a specific subject matter and was asked to submit a proposed design in color on a scale of two inches to the foot. McCosh’s assignment was to propose a mural consisting of two panels, each thirteen feet six inches long and six feet wide, on the subject of “The Opening of the Middle West,” with the following suggested topics: The Louisiana Purchase, The Mail in this French Settlement, Pony Express (Buffalo Bill, or a Pony Express Rider), Covered Wagon or Stage Coach being attacked by Indians, Frontier Post Office or General Store, Rail-Heads and the Pushing of the Railroad West, or Transference of Mail from the Railroad to the Pony Express. The instructions gave the painters some latitude:

“The subject matter should be limited to the general theme stated, but the artist can express the general theme as he sees fit. He may include all of the topics suggested, may add to them, or may take a simple specific incident to express the general theme. Any addition, found through research which fits into the general theme is welcomed.”

McCosh took this project very seriously. His panels (“Building the Railroad” and what appears to be a Pony Express theme) are carefully researched, beautifully drawn and classically composed. But alas, he received the rejection letter that is all too familiar to every artist who enters public competitions:

“I am very sorry to inform you that your designs were not among those chosen for an award in the Post Office Department Building here in Washington.”

But this one had a happy ending:

“However, the Section of Painting and Sculpture wants to appoint you to execute a design for a small post office. The blue prints and specifications and the amount which you will be paid for this work, if you accept the appointment, will be mailed to you at an early date.”

In the later 1930s and early ’40s, McCosh was invited by the Treasury Department to paint murals in a number of small post offices. Despite his busy teaching schedule, he was able to accept and complete two commissions: Kelso, Washington (1936), and Beresford, South Dakota (1942). Both post offices are

Top: Sketch for Mural: Opening of the Middle West I, 1935 Graphite on paper, 30 x 131/2 inches McCosh Memorial Collection; MMC.1734 Sketch for Mural: Opening of wthe Middle West II, 1935 Graphite on paper, 30 x 12 inches Private Collection

still in use, with the McCosh murals intact. Interestingly, McCosh was invited in 1940 to paint the murals for the new post office in Eugene. But he had to decline the commission:

“I regret very much that at this time I do not feel I could do justice to the commission and therefore cannot accept it. I am committed to a full program for the coming year which will give me less time than ever to paint. I have learned that it takes continuous application to produce large designs. Broken time is extremely unsatisfactory for important large designs and it is too late for me to arrange for a leave of absence.” So the Eugene commission went instead to the young Carl Morris. The 1935 competition may also have led to the commission McCosh received in 1937 from the Treasury Department to paint two important murals for the National Parks Service of the Department of the Interior in Washington, D. C.

This exhibition includes the actual designs McCosh submitted in the 1935 competition (artists who did not receive commissions were not paid for their designs, so McCosh’s designs were returned to him by the Treasury Department), as well as a number of his preliminary studies for this project.