Talk:Datus Ensign Myers

Latest comment: 1 year ago by Doncram in topic mural

murals

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For the infobox "known for" field: was he "known for" murals? The United States post office murals programs of the 1930s (some or all run by the Treasury Department, including via the Treasury Relief Art Project) were make-work projects to give artists some money, and I think most of those works were one-off projects for artists whose real work was different. His 1939 mural in that, plus the 1910 one you found, don't necessarily add up to much. I was assuming he is a regular artist, not especially a muralist. Or do treatments of him actually discuss his murals as important? They would certainly be harder to sell (on commission only?), harder for art galleries and art dealers to handle. I think very few artists, one being Diego Rivera of Mexican muralism, are known as muralists. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 01:36, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

mural

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About Datus's Logging in the Louisiana Swamps mural, I haven't quite nailed down that it is located in the Old Post Office Museum (Winnsboro, Louisiana) (a redlink currently), so I avoided saying that. This "Living New Deal" webpage says it is, specifically that "The mural is still in the original PO building which is being converted into a local history museum." But that doesn't seem like an entirely reliable source, including because the museum opened in 2010 (per its own history page). It shows the Flickr photo of the mural being held (with statement that it was uploaded to Flickr in 2006), perhaps just taken down, not of the mural ensconced somewhere new. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 01:57, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

It is not mentioned in the webpages of the museum, doesn't appear in these photos either. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 02:16, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Oh, this Flickr page with a different photo of mural, ensconced also uses "today" wording (which I don't like): "It is a mural located in the old Winnsboro post office, which is today the Old Post Office Museum." But it shows it ensconced, and it states "Uploaded on February 1, 2018 / Taken on December 11, 2017". So I guess this establishes well enough that the mural is there in the museum. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 02:07, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

And the finishes do look consistent with the museum's webpage photos of its interior. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 02:16, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Does the study show a white man and a black man sawing through the tree in the foreground, while the final shows two white men? I wonder if there was an uproar. The final is less busy, better, otherwise. But still IMHO not any great shakes, looks like it was paid for by the square foot like most P.O. murals do. --Doncram (talk,contribs) 02:12, 3 July 2023 (UTC)Reply