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You are here: Home / Archives for Elsa Jemne

Elsa Jemne

Post offices that have artwork by the artists Elsa Jemne

Wisconsin Post Office Mural Artists

October 18, 2017 By David W. Gates Jr.

Artist Frank Buffmire - Black River Falls Post Office Mural
Artist Frank Buffmire – Black River Falls Post Office Mural

A total of twenty-eight artist created murals in thirty-five Wisconsin Post Office buildings during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Seven of the artist received multiple commissions as noted below. The artist and their awarded sites as listed below.

We have found having a list such as this is convenient when performing research at the National Archives Records and Administration. Any researcher will reveal, that finding information is part of the fun, somethings what you are looking for is catalogued by the artist name. Other times the research materials you need may be cataloged by the city or town, and so on.

Having a list to refer to is helpful on your journey of discovering these wonderful treasures in our nations post offices.

Wisconsin Post Office Mural Artists

  1. Berlin – Raymond Redell*
  2. Black River Falls – Frank Buffmire
  3. Chilton – Charles W Thwaites*
  4. Columbus – Arnold Blanch
  5. De Pere – Lester W Bentley
  6. Edgerton – Vladimir Rousseff*
  7. Elkhorn – Tom Rost*
  8. Fond du Lac – Boris Gilbertson*
  9. Hartford– Ethel Spears
  10. Hayward – Stella E Harlos
  11. Hudson – Ruth Grotenrath
  12. Janesville – Boris Gilbertson*
  13. Kaukauna – Vladimir Rousseff*
  14. Kewaunee – Paul Faulkner
  15. Ladysmith – Elsa Jemne
  16. Lake Geneva – George A Dietrich
  17. Lancaster – Tom Rost*
  18. Mayville – Peter Roiter*
  19. Milwaukee – Frances Foy
  20. Neillsville – John Van Koert
  21. Oconomowoc – Edward Morton
  22. Park Falls – James Waltrous
  23. Plymouth – Charles W Thwaites*
  24. Prairie Du Chien – Jefferson E Greer
  25. Reedsburg – Richard Jansen
  26. Rice Lake – Forest Flower*
  27. Richland Center – Richard Brooks
  28. Shawano – Eugene Higgins
  29. Sheboygan – Schomer Lichtner
  30. Stoughton – Edmund D Lewandoski
  31. Sturgeon Bay – Santos Zingle
  32. Viroqua – Forrest Flower*
  33. Waupaca – Raymond Redell*
  34. Wausau – Gerritt Sinclair
  35. West Bend – Peter Roiter*

There are a total of  28 artist that were commissioned artwork in Wisconsin in regards to post offices.

A few of the artists received multiple commissions and have art in more than one building. The following artists have two or more murals in Wisconsin.

  • Raymond Redell – Berlin and Wapaca
  • Charles W Thwaities – Chilton and Plymouth
  • Vladimir Rousseff – Edgerton and Kaukauna
  • Tom Rost – Elkhorn and Lancaster
  • Boris Gilbertson – Fond du Lac and Janesville
  • Forrest Flower – Rice Lake and Viroqua
  • Peter Rotier – Mayville and West Bend

New Deal Artists Biographies NARA
New Deal Artists Biographies NARA
New Deal Artists Biographies NARA

Sources

  • David W. Gates Jr. on site visits to each location.
  • Wisconsin Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
  • Wisconsin Post Office Murals by David W. Gates Jr.
  • National Archives Records and Administration, College Park Maryland
  • Who was who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 years of artist in America, Peter H Falk; Audrey M Lewis, Georgia Kuchen, Veronika Roessler, Madison, CT, Mount View Press. 1999.
  • Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover]  Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz

Filed Under: Artist, Artwork, NARA, New Deal, Post Office, Wisconsin Tagged With: Arnold Blanch, Artist, Boris Gilbertson, Charles W Thwaites, Edmund D Lewandowski, Edward Morton, Elsa Jemne, Ethel Spears, Eugene Higgins, Forrest Flower, Frances Foy, Frank Buffmire, George A Dietrich, Gerrit Sinclair, James Watrous, Jefferson E Greer, John Van Koert, Lester W Bentley, NARA, New Deal, Paul Faulkner, Peter Rotier, Raymond Redell, Richard Brooks, Richard Jansen, Ruth Grotenrath, Santos Zingale, Schomer Lichtner, Stella E Harlos, Tom Rost, Walter Vladimir Rousseff, Wisconsin

Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office

August 31, 2012 By David W. Gates Jr.

Ladysmith WI Post Office 54848
Ladysmith WI Post Office 54848

ADDRESS: 212 Miner Ave. W. Ladysmith, Wisconsin 54848
ARTIST: Elsa Jemne
TITLE: Development of The Land
MEDIUM: Fresco (mural) 
STATUS: The mural is no longer viewable, having either been destroyed or painted over. None of my research has confirmed the fate of this artwork. There is an original black and white photograph on file at the National Archives, College Park Maryland for viewing.
YEAR: 1938

Last week I was up in Wisconsin volunteering on the Ice Age Trail. When I finished on Sunday I though I’d drive up to Ladysmith. I was excited when I first saw the building. It is a classic WPA era building with the signature corner-stone on the lower left of the building.

When I initially looked into this one I noticed it was listed as having a mural. When I visited it was a Sunday and the building was closed. I tried to peer through the windows but could not see the mural. So while I was sitting outside, I checked my phone and found out this one had been painted over. “Painted Over” I said out loud to myself. How could artwork like this be painted over?

For a look at what the mural once looked like please visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

I know absolutely nothing about the circumstances surrounding the history of this building or the mural that once graced the lobby. So Ladysmith is another one of those post office I’ll need to re-visit and research more. I have a burning desire to find out what the mural looked like and maybe just maybe gain enough interest to maybe find out if its possible to recover it. If the painting can’t be recovered, I wonder if it would be possible to have another local artist re-create the mural as a sort of reminder what was once there. Food for thought as I sit here and think about it.

Does anyone else know about the Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office? Does anyone happen to have any old photographs of this building or the mural that once existed here? I’d love to hear from you?

Thanks for stopping by,

David W. Gates Jr.

Development of the Land by Elsa Jemne, photo credit David W. Gates Jr.
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848
Ladysmith Wisconsin Post Office 54848 Cornerstone
They painted over the mural? What!!!

Sources

  • Personal visit on 7/26/2012 by David W. Gates Jr.
  • Wisconsin Post Office Murals by David W. Gates Jr.
  • Wisconsin Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
  • United States Postal Service
  • (affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover]  Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) (https://americanart.si.edu)
 

Filed Under: Artwork, Cornerstone, New Deal, Post Office, Wisconsin Tagged With: Artwork, Cornerstone, Elsa Jemne, Mural, New Deal, Post Office, Wisconsin

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