Description: This photograph is a black-and-white image of a colorful mural titled "Romance of Steel, Old,” created in 1938 by artist Glenn Moore Shaw (1891-1981). The oil-on-canvas mural, which measures 7 feet high by 16-1/8 fee feet wide, is located in the Warren, Ohio, post office. This painting is paired with a second mural, “Romance of Steel, Modern,” which hangs directly below the first. Together the murals convey both the progression of steel manufacturing technology and the hard physical labor that produced the valuable alloy. Shaw depicts a group of eight steelworkers engaged in various tasks: grasping red-hot metal with long-handled tongs, using shovels to keep the furnace burning at the right temperature, and controlling the furnace door. The mural was funded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (the “Section”), one of the department’s three visual arts programs instituted during the Great Depression. Established in 1934, the Section commissioned artists to create paintings and sculpture that would decorate new federal buildings. The commissions were awarded competitively. Unlike other cultural programs of the New Deal, the Section’s primary goal was to procure art for public buildings, not to provide work relief. Glenn Moore Shaw was born in Olmstead Falls, Ohio. After graduating high school he attended the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art). He married fellow art student Elsa Vick in 1917 and joined the faculty of his alma mater in 1922. He was head of the school’s mural department from 1937 to 1957, when he retired. During his career he painted more than 60 murals. He and Mrs. Shaw moved to Arizona in 1968. He died in Sun City in 1981. In 1988 photographer Connie Girard took color and black-and-white images of this mural for an article in "Timeline" magazine (June/July 1989). View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04498
Subjects: Mural paintings (visual works); Post office buildings--Ohio; United States. Department of the Treasury. Section of Painting and Sculpture; Great Depression and the New Deal; Warren (Ohio)
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of "Romance of Steel, Old" painted by Glenn M. Shaw in 1938. The painting is located at a post office in Warren, Ohio in Trumbull County. Photographed by Connie Girard in 1988. The photo is from the Ohio Post Office Artwork Collection, AV 48. The collection represents thirty murals or plaster reliefs installed in twenty-five Ohio post offices between 1937 and 1943. In 1988, Connie Girard photographed the artwork. Photos were published in the article “Not By Bread Alone, Post Office Art of the New Deal.” Timeline. June-July 1989, p. 2-19 by Gerald Markowitz and Marlene Park. In 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President he promised Americans a "New Deal" and created public works programs to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed people, including artists. Ten thousand unknown and established artists were commissioned by the government to create murals, paintings, photographs, posters, prints and sculpture. The goal was not only to employ artists, but also to bring fine art into the daily lives of all people. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was funded for six months in 1933 – 1934. The PWAP was succeeded by the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. Organized in 1934 the Section of Painting and Sculpture operated until 1943. Under the auspices of this organization sixty-six new Ohio post offices received artwork. The majority of the post offices were located in small towns. Post offices were chosen as a location for artwork because, particularly in small towns, they were centers of community activity. Most of the painted murals or murals in plaster relief created are realistic images reflecting the history, common activities or major industries of the communities in which the post offices are located. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: av48_b2_f24_02
Subjects: Post office stations and branches--Ohio--Photographs; Public art--Ohio--Photographs; Public Works of Art Project (United States); New Deal art
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of "Romance of Steel, Modern" painted by Glenn M. Shaw in 1938. The painting is located at a post office in Warren, Ohio in Trumbull County. Photographed by Connie Girard in 1988. The photo is from the Ohio Post Office Artwork Collection, AV 48. The collection represents thirty murals or plaster reliefs installed in twenty-five Ohio post offices between 1937 and 1943. In 1988, Connie Girard photographed the artwork. Photos were published in the article “Not By Bread Alone, Post Office Art of the New Deal.” Timeline. June-July 1989, p. 2-19 by Gerald Markowitz and Marlene Park. In 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President he promised Americans a "New Deal" and created public works programs to provide jobs for the millions of unemployed people, including artists. Ten thousand unknown and established artists were commissioned by the government to create murals, paintings, photographs, posters, prints and sculpture. The goal was not only to employ artists, but also to bring fine art into the daily lives of all people. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was funded for six months in 1933 – 1934. The PWAP was succeeded by the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. Organized in 1934 the Section of Painting and Sculpture operated until 1943. Under the auspices of this organization sixty-six new Ohio post offices received artwork. The majority of the post offices were located in small towns. Post offices were chosen as a location for artwork because, particularly in small towns, they were centers of community activity. Most of the painted murals or murals in plaster relief created are realistic images reflecting the history, common activities or major industries of the communities in which the post offices are located. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: av48_b2_f24_03
Subjects: Post office stations and branches--Ohio--Photographs; Public art--Ohio--Photographs; Public Works of Art Project (United States); New Deal art
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)