Dardanelle Post Office Mural

On June 25th, 1936 the Dardanelle Post-Dispatch reported that land was being cleared to create a new building in Dardanelle. The Dardanelle Post Office would finish construction in that area around 1937. The total cost for the construction of the Dardanelle Post Office would be around 45,000$. Work on a mural to accompany the Post Office would be started only a year after it was formed in 1938. The mural that sits there today is currently one of the most well-preserved pieces of art that were commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts.

The mural itself is a 12 ft. x 4 ft. six-inch oil on canvas painting that depicts three different scenes. The picture in the middle depicts an African American man carrying a basket of cotton on his back with two other workers picking cotton in the background. This scene in the center represents the "Growing Cotton" section of the title because of the cotton plants that can be seen in the background. The second scene on the left depicts two workers at a cotton mill preparing cotton for the other stages of the manufacturing process. The scene on the left is meant to represent the " Manufacture" section of the title. The third and final scene depicts several workers loading baled cotton onto a ship for distribution. This scene represents the "Export" section of the title. Together, the three scenes in the mural represent part of the industry history of Dardanelle.

The mural relates to the history of Dardanelle because the superintendent of the Section of Fine Arts expressed to the artist, Ludwig Mactarian, that he wanted the painting to relate to the town where the post office was located. Mactarian would have a difficult time coming up with an idea for the mural because he lived in New York and could not afford the train fare to travel to Dardanelle and research it. Mactarian would get around this problem by locating images of Dardanelle at the New York Public Library. He also obtained information about Dardanelle through the Post Master at the time, who was named Joe D. Gault. Gault provided Mactarian with additional pictures of Dardanelle that he could not find at the library in New York. When Mactarian finished the painting he was paid around $660 for his work. After installation, Mactarian wrote a letter to the superintendent about the reaction the people of Dardanelle had to his mural. He said," The townspeople seem pleased and interested in the decoration and think the subject most appropriate as they live and die by cotton here."

The Dardanelle Post Office Mural was made as a response to some of the problems caused by the Great Depression, which took place shortly before the mural was made. This is because the Dardanelle Post Office Mural was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts. The Section of Fine Arts was established in 1934 by the United States Department of the Treasury during the height of the Great Depression. The Section of Fine Arts were part of Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal plan that was created to bring income to people working in the arts. The effectiveness of the program can be seen in Ludwig Martarian's final letter to the superintendent where he asks for his final payment for the commission, which reads, "I would greatly appreciate your help in speeding up this matter for me as I am dead broke."

Smith, Sandra Taylor. Arkansas Post Offices and the Treasury Department's Section Art Program,1938-1942, Internet Archive Way Back Machine. Accessed November 29th 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20080530092947/http://www.arkansaspreservation.org/pdf/publications/Post_Office_Art.pdf.

Dardanelle Post Office, University of Central Arkansas. Accessed November 29th 2020. https://uca.edu/postofficemurals/dardanelle/.

Arkansas Post Office Murals, University of Central Arkansas . Accessed November 29th 2020.

https://uca.edu/postofficemurals/home/.

Dardanelle Agriculture and Post Office, Encyclopedia of Arkansas. July 14th 2016. Accessed November 29th 2020. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/dardanelle-agriculture-and-post-office-8181/.

"Dardanelle Is to Have New Federal Building" Post-Dispatch, June 25, 1936

Adler, Jerry . 1934:Art of the New Deal :Depression era-Paintings, Smithsonian Magizene. June 1st 2009. Accessed November 29th 2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/1934-the-art-of-the-new-deal-132242698/.