Evening star., 1937-11-13
By Leila Meckhn.
more mural paintings have

second nOOr. lner SUBJECT Is given
as THE Post as Connecting Thread
In Human Life" but they show a
hodge-podee of people and things
tossed together without reason or
order, as by some uncomfortable,
external force, such as tornado or
an earthquake.
In one panel there are music, laugh
ter, sorrow and toll. a grave, rural
cabin. some distant skyscrapers, mail
car and huge pile of farm produce.
In the other sad Madonna occupies
the foreground in imminent danger
OF being run down by tractor driven
by a gay, irresponsible farmland.
To her left is grinning skull, be-
hind which are pyramided representa-
tives of nations from the ends of the
earth and furled flags, while to the
left again is group of news readers
apparently laboring under great ex-
citement.
In both panels people and objects
are violently shaken; nothing, appar-
emily, is on solid foundation; there
are no perpendiculars establishing
equilibrium. And over these two COM
positions pour torrents of mail matter:
letters stream from an airplane, in
one instance, and into a mail car in
the other They overflow from letter
box bursting full and dash uphill
into a carrier. Likewise, they run
down chute into similar receptacle
In a conglomerate mass of first, second
and third class matter, much of the
latter unwrapped. A little boy is seen
sneaking a letter out of a postman's
bag; a rural post box gives rural
delivery representation.
IF THIS is the way the mail is
handled, alas alas! But perhaps
the painter has taken what, in liter
ature, is called poetic license" Pos
sibly these paintings should be re-
garded as allegory rather than as fact.
Why then, one may ask, the explain
atory legends beneath them? Such as
Messenger of Sympathy and Love-"
Servant of Parted Friends" Con
soler of the Lonely" Bond of the
Scattered Family" "Enlarger of the
Common Life" Carrier of News and
knowledge" Instrument of Trade
and Industry" Promoter of Mutual
Acquaintance" of Peace and Good
Will Among Men and Nations" Beau
tlful expressions of the potentialities
and service of the mail, quoted, if we
are not mistaken, from a statement
written by the late Charles Eliot and
cut into the facade of the City Post
Office on Union Plaza.
But what travesty are the paint
ings which accompany them in this
instance on the walls of the Post
Office Department Building Paint
ings which should illuminate, illustrate
and at the same time decorate. In
the style of old vignettes engraved as
decorations for certificates, title pages,
music covers and the like in the early
Victorian era, they carry, on a large
scale, naivete to absurdity Of all
the sad and sorry nl-fitting murals
that have been produced and given
placement in the lobbies of the Post
Office Department Building, these are
the least understandable and fitting.
That this should be the case is the
more astounding and distressing when
1t Is remembered that the painter,
Mr.. Eugene Savage, is most distin-
gulshed as artist and teacher; one of
our best, to whom we have every
right to look for fine achievement.
1t is inexplicable that from him
should come such work, SO utterly in
artistic and inappropriate.
SURELY there must be ink on all
these Post Office commissions.
And more's the pity! For the inclu-
sion OF mural paintings and sculp-
ture as integral units in the design
and decoration of our public build
ings is consummation much to be
desired, and the setting up of the
Painting and Sculpture Section of the
procurement Division of the Treasury
Department for this purpose has en-
eendered widespread satisfaction. The
system OF assigning small percentage
OF cost to cover such work was logical.
and no murmur has arisen when spe-
cial appropriations were voted for
such purposes.
Furthermore, apparent effort was
made to place the work in the hands
OF capable artists not because of their
need but on the record of achieve
ment, record which gave reasonab bic
assurance of capability But the an
ticipated beneficent results have not
been achieved. Perhaps lack of CO.
ordination may have had something
to do with this. Also the majority
OF those commissioned were not ex-
perienced mural painters. Further
more, blind ourselves as we NAV. we
must admit that the art of painting
Is at present in chaos and that paint
ers themselves are greataly confused.
Distrusting tradition, they are with
out background; rejecting old truths.
tney have found no new message; the
light has gone out.
Eugene F. Savage was born in Cow
1ngton, Ind, in 1885 and studied
shortly here in the Corcoran School
OF Art, then at the Art Institute of
chicago and in the American Acad-
eny in Rome, of which he is one of
the outstanding Fellows in Painting.
In 1925 he was made National Acad-
emician. Five years earlier the Ar
chitectural League of New York
awarded him its gold medal, Other
honors and awards followed in quick
succession. His Expulsion is in the
City Art Museum, st. Louis, his "Re-
ceSsional' in the Museum of History
Science and Art, Los Angeles. He
has painted murals for Yale and for
Columbia University. The Elks' Ma
'tional Memorial in Chicago has his
great panels, 1.-The Armstice" and
Paths of Peace" both of which in
cline toward the style which in the
Post Office panels he has carried to
the extreme.
MIR. Savage is professor of painting
at Yale University and the painter
member of our National Commission
NJ Fino rfc 4