Sandbagging the Bulkheads (mural study, Cairo, Illinois Post Office)
Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- Consultation with local citizens regarding a mural's theme was sometimes insufficient to guarantee a mural's success. To prepare for his Cairo, Illinois commission, Wendell Jones talked with citizens who expressed pride that, despite periodic flooding of the Missouri River, the people of Cairo rallied and "not a drop of water ever got into the streets." In Sandbagging the Bulkheads Jones hoped to convey the epic heroism of citizens joining together, regardless of social class, to protect their city from impending disaster. On completion of the mural, however, citizens rebelled against a permanent reminder of the recurring threat. The Section succumbed to local objection and advised Jones not to install his painting. The mural has subsequently been lost.
- Special Delivery: Murals for the New Deal Era, 1988
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Internal Revenue Service through the General Services Administration
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- 1942
- Object number
- 1962.8.60
- Artist
- Wendell Jones, born Galena, KS 1899-died Rome, Italy 1956
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- tempera, ink and pencil on fiberboard
- Dimensions
- 23 7/8 x 36 in. (60.8 x 91.5 cm.)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Topic
- Figure group
- Figure group\male
- Occupation\labor
- Study\mural study
- Landscape\Illinois\Cairo
- New Deal\Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture\Illinois
- Record ID
- saam_1962.8.60
