Retired teacher

chronicles New Deal Art
By Scott Nicholson

The historic art at the downtown Boone Post Office is the only example of New Deal art in Watauga County, a federal public-works art project that might resonate with echoes in the current federal economic stimulus package.

Anita Price Davis, a retired teacher, became interested in New Deal art while researching an earlier book on the Great Depression, and recalled seeing the mural in the post office during her time as a college student in the 1960’s.

Her research showed that the Works Progress Administration didn’t just promote bricks, mortar, and asphalt, but also encouraged creativity as well.

“Back in the 30s there was some stimulus for that,” Davis said.

“They said artists had to eat, too. That was a phrase that appeared frequently in the documents. And I suppose their families had to eat, too.”

Davis recently released a book called “New Deal Art in North Carolina” through McFarland Publishers. She researched the development of the local mural by artist Alan Tompkins, getting to know his family and learning about the post office’s history.

She attended ASU from 1960 to 1963, then got a masters degree while teaching in the local public school system.

“I frequently made trips to the post office to send letters for more money home, as college students will do,” she said. “And I would take the time to look at the mural of Daniel Boone.”

Davis said ASU professors Cratis Williams and Rogers Whitener helped Tompkins get the project rolling, creating more local ties to the art.

“Cratis Williams had been very instrumental in helping the artist with the painting, and Rogers Whitener was from Rutherford County, which is my home county, and he was involved in the planning and sketches,” Davis said. “I knew Dr. Williams and Dr. Whitener and that made all this important to me.”

According to Davis’ research, Daniel Boone hunted the mountains in the mid-1700s and often stayed in a cabin near what is now the ASU campus.

Tompkins’ mural “Daniel Boone on a hunting trip in Watauga County” was completed in 1940, part of a program to place one mural in every post-office lobby. Artists at the time were awarded an average commission of $725 for each work “and a helpful shove toward fame.” Tompkins went through several design ideas before settling on the felt hat with Boone at the age of 26, “courageous, determined and resourceful.” Tompkins said he chose the period because “Daniel Boone had completed an exacting apprenticeship and was beginning the explorations which were to make him famous.”

The mural, which is 11’8” by 4’6,” was crafted by a Yale graduate who had studied art abroad who won three other commissions for New Deal art projects in Indiana. Tompkins taught art and illustrated books as well as working in industria l design and advertising.

The post office was also a New Deal project, completed in 1938. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Davis said the painting in the post office was a great public asset, and a lot of the photographs in her book came from national archives because many New Deal art projects no longer existed.

“So many of the artworks had been destroyed, Boone was fortunate to keep theirs,” Davis said.