About the Mural
The mural “Scenes Along the Rio Grande” was designed for the Mission Post Office and was painted by Xavier Gonzalez. It was completed in 1942. The landscape represents the typical features found in South Texas. The mural’s focus is a Texas Ranger standing on a bluff along the Rio Grande as he adjusts the saddle on his horse. The ranger’s “watchful mood” comes after he hears gun shots from the Mexican side of the river. Rangers in the early twentieth century guarded the border from Mexican revolutionaries who would raid ranches north of the river.
The Mission post master at the time, Mr.Rowan, did not embrace the idea of a mural in his post office at first, instead preferring to spend the money on a badly needed second adding machine. But the mural was approved and when it was unveiled to the people of Mission, Rowan praised both the artist and the painting.
In 1982, the Mission Post Office began moving to a new facility and the mural was taken down. Unfortunately, it was damaged during removal and was subsequently rolled up and put in storage. There it remained until 2006, when a grant was obtained by the Mission Historical Museum to repair the damage and restore the painting to its original condition. It now hangs once again in the lobby of the building it was designed for – the old Mission Post Office, which since the early 2000’s has been part of the Mission Historical Museum complex.
The Artist Xavier Gonzalez
Xavier Gonzalez (1898–1993) was an American artist. He was born in Almeria, Spain. He lived in Argentina and Mexico for some time, and was planning on becoming an engineer in a gold mine. In 1925, he immigrated to the United States.
Gonzalez's works have been displayed throughout the United States, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also well known in Paris, Venice, Brussels and Tokyo. He taught art at Tulane University, the Brooklyn Museum, Case Western Reserve University, and the Newcomb Memorial School of Art, and was the director of the art school at Sul Ross State Teachers College in Alpine, Texas. In 1953, he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, then became a full Academician in 1955. He illustrated a children's book called "He Who Saw Everything, The Epic of Gilgamesh" by Anita Feagles (1966).
Gonzalez died of leukemia in 1993, at the age of 94, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City.
U.S. Post Office Murals
United States post office murals were produced in the United States from 1934 to 1943. The principal objective was to secure artwork that met high artistic standards for public buildings, where it was accessible to all people. The murals were intended to boost the morale of the American people suffering from the effects of the Depression by depicting uplifting subjects the people knew and loved.
Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States. Almost 850 artists were commissioned to paint 1371 murals, most of which were installed in post offices; 162 of the artists were women and three were African American.
Artists were provided with guidelines and themes for executing their mural. Scenes of local interest and events were deemed to be the most suitable. Artists invited to submit design sketches for a particular post office were strongly urged to visit the site. However, this was not possible for every artist. Distance, expense, or family commitment prevented many artists from actually traveling to the community.
Americans shown at work or at leisure, grace the walls of the new deal post offices. Although the mural program was inspired by a Mexican mural tradition strongly affected by social change, the hard realities of the American life are not illustrated on post office walls. Scenes of industrial America, for instance, avoid tragic portrayals of industrial accidents. Social realism painting, though popular at the time, was discouraged. Therefore, the very real scenes of jobless Americans standing in bread lines are not to be found on post office walls.
Many post office murals have vanished over the years and others are in need of repair. Fortunately, there has been a renewed interest in the depression era murals. These murals provide local communities with a colorful record of their heritage and give us all a glimpse of the American public's taste during a fascinating time in our nation's history.