Post Office or Art House? The New Concord Post Office’s Mural

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The history of intersection and art can be found in everyday places. A perfect example of this in New Concord at the post office above the door to the post masters office door.

While walking through the doors of this small town’s post office, you’ll find a large mural painted by Clyde Singer in 1940. This project was made possible through the section of fine arts program from the Treasury Department during the Great Depression.

“So it was the intention to provide employment for artists during an extremely difficult economic period. And it also brought art into the federal buildings where everyday Americans could experience art as a part of their everyday lives,” said Noel Roman.

Roman is the historic preservation officer or architect in the Postal Service. He’s the expert in discussing the nearly 1,000 murals like this that can be found across the country in post offices like this. While post offices weren’t the only public buildings to see art like this, they may have been the most prevalent.

“So the program deliberately brought art to communities throughout the country, including many relatively small towns. And it made sense. The post office was uniquely suited for this mission,” Roman said.

Roman says that post offices had the advantage of being a federal building in every town, big and small. In some cases, it was the only federal building in town to receive an art project.

Singer’s mural titled “Skater,” depicts local members of the New Concord community ice skating on University Lake on the campus of Muskingum University. You can even see the university’s Patton Hall up on the hill.

“And that is very much in keeping with the broader spirit of this period, the federal art. Most of the artwork that we have are actually depicting everyday life in every community…,” Roman said.

Singer was commonly known for American Scene and realist art traditions, meaning he mostly depicted everyday life in the U.S. He was a long time curator at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio and was born and raised in Malvern, Ohio.

“So there’s a particularly strong regional connection between both the artist and the mural,” Roman said.

You can also find a mural like this in the New Lexington Post Office and a sculpture in the Crooksville Post Office.