ADDRESS: 14 Walnut St., Bordentown, New Jersey 08505
ARTIST: Avery Fischer Johnson
TITLE: Skating on Bonaparte’s Pond
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Bordentown post office is still an active, operating facility, and the mural can be viewed by interested members of the public. It resides in the lobby on the wall above the postmaster’s door. The Bordentown mural was the winner in the 48 state mural competition.
YEAR: 1938
Last week from May 18th through the 23rd 2021, I took a road trip to New Jersey. My goal was to visit the Fort Lee building and meet with the mayor to help convince him not to demolish their historic post office.
In addition I also stop at 46 other buildings, Bordentown was another visit during my trip to New Jersey. They don’t keep the lobby open after hours and by the time I made it here on the 19th, it was closed. Wonderful sunny weather for outside photographs.
This is another example where I think the lights should be brought up flush with the ceiling for a better, unobstructed view of the mural.
I ended up heading back to Bordentown two days later to get inside mural images you see below. This is a very nice mural and the 48 state mural competition winners for New Jersey.
UPDATE
I didn’t have to re-visit the Bordentown building, but I wanted a better early morning photograph. Back in May, I visited late in the afternoon and the sun sets behind the building. The photographs I had were dark and not what I wanted since I’m using this one as the cover of the guidebook. So in August I re-visited and the weather was perfect for new photographs. I’m satisfied.
David W. Gates Jr.
Sources
- Personal visit on5/19/2021 about 5:45 PM, 5/21/2021 about 6:20 AM, and 8/12/2021 about 8:46 AM by David W. Gates Jr.
- (affiliate link) New Jersey Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
- United States Postal Service
- Smithsonian American Art Museum (Skating on Bonaparte’s Pond (mural study, Bordentown, New Jersey Post Office) | Smithsonian American Art Museum (si.edu)
- Esquire article (Post Office Murals – American Post Office Paintings (esquire.com)
- (affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
