Logan Post Office & “The Letter”

The Logan Post Office was begun in 1936 and finished in 1937. Despite not being in a major metropolitan area, this building is on the grander side of Works Progress Administration (WPA) post office buildings in West Virginia. The gabled roof, rectangular shape, and raised front porch all recall the grand classical forms of Greece and Rome. However, the building is primarily brick and unornamented. In particular, the bare pediment, normally a place reserved for copious detailing and ornamentation, makes a marked statement that form is subsumed by function. The overall impression is powerful but reserved.

The neo-classical motifs of the Logan Post Office architecture are maintained on the interior of the building, where a large sculpture by Gleb W. Derujinsky is installed. Derujinsky was a Russian-born artist who emigrated to the United States to avoid the Russian Revolution of 1919. In the 1920s, he created a number of plaster busts of prominent political figures, including Theodore Roosevelt. As the New Deal was the brainchild of Roosevelt, it is likely that Derujinsky’s commission for the Logan Post Office was tied to his personal connections and previous work. The sculpture in Logan is dated 1940 and titled, “The Letter.” The work is roughly four feet wide by six feet tall and is carved from a single piece of wood. The piece depicts a woman holding a quill and paper. She is bare-chested with a flowing robe around her lower torso and legs. Her feet dangle as if she is floating in air. The figure is clearly classical in style and resembles ancient depictions of muses and goddesses. These parallels along with the name of the work suggest that the woman is an allegorical figure for the postal service and mail delivery.

Gaines, Seth. Logan Post Office, New Deal Art Registry. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://www.newdealartregistry.org/map/Logan/WV/.

Hughes, Edan. Gleb W Derujinsky, AskArt. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://www.askart.com/artist/artist/89922/artist.aspx.

Lorance, Nancy. New Deal/WPA Art in Logan, West Virginia, WPA Murals. Accessed July 2nd 2021. http://wpamurals.org/loganwv.htm.

Park, Marlene. Markowitz, Gerald E. Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Temple University Press, 1984.

Post Office Art, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History. Accessed July 2nd 2021. http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/po_art.html.

Post Office - Logan WV, The Living New Deal. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-logan-wv/.

Post Office Relief - Logan WV, The Living New Deal. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-relief-logan-wv/.