Walk into any of sixty post offices or federal buildings in the state of 
Texas and you may be greeted by a surprising sight: magnificent 
mural art on the lobby walls.

    In the midst of the Great Depression, a program was born that 
would not only give work to artists but also create beauty and 
optimism for a people worn down by hardship and discouragement. 
This New Deal program commissioned artists to create post office 
murals—the people’s art—to celebrate the lives, history, hopes, 
and dreams of ordinary Americans. In Texas alone, artists painted 
ninety-seven artworks for sixty-nine post offices and federal 
buildings around the state.

   The artists included Tom Lea, Jerry Bywaters, Peter Hurd, Otis 
Dozier, Alexandre Hogue, and Xavier Gonzalez. The images 
showed people at work and featured industries specific to the 
region, often coupled with symbols of progress such as machinery 
and modern transportation. Murals depicted cowboys and 
stampedes, folk heroes, and community symbols such as 
Eastland’s lizard mascot, Ol’ Rip.

    In this volume Philip Parisi has gathered 115 photographs of 
these stunning and historic works of art—36 in full color. He tells 
the story of how they came to be, how the communities influenced 
and accepted them, and what efforts have been made to restore 
and preserve them.

    Enjoy this book in the comfort of your living room, or take it with 
you on the road as a guide to the people’s art in the Lone Star 
State.

_________________________________________________________

PHILIP PARISI, who now lives in Logan, Utah, and is a freelance writer 
and instructor at Utah State University, began work on this book while 
on the staff of the Texas Historical Commission.


Number Fourteen: Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series


What people are saying about this book


"If every state had a guide to its New Deal post-office and courthouse 
murals as well conceived and executed as this one, there would be no 
further bad-mouthing of the art produced under government patronage 
during the 1930s . . . Philip Parisi, an independent scholar, should be 
congratulated for creating such a complete and revealing record of the 
U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts murals in Texas."
—The Journal of Southern History, August 2005

"The stunning images provide a visual index to the American Dream of 
those who endured the Great Depression."—Review of Texas Books, 
Spring 2005

"It is this combination of careful attention to detail, Parisi's accessible 
writing style, and the well-produced illustrations that make this book 
so desirable, not only for scholar, but also for those who may have 
interest in this period, or particular interest in the mural arts."
—Western Historical Quarterly, Fall 2005

"Beautifully designed and printed, mostly in vivid color, Parisi's book 
becomes both a superb tourist's guide to 1930s art in Texas and a 
primary research document for students of American art and culture."
—Karal Ann Marling, Department of Art History and American Studies, 
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Great Plains Quarterly

“Anyone who has ever questioned the public patronage of the visual
arts should be given a copy of this wonderful book.”—Bloomsbury
Review

"The themes, images, and artists of the Texas post office murals 
now have a masterful reference work thanks to Philip Parisi. 
Some are lost; others, destroyed. But Parisi accounts for all of 
them and tells numerous fascinating stories about their 
creation."—Clyde A. Milner II, co-editor, The Oxford History of 
the American West