Post Office (Former) Mural - Lamesa, TX - WPA Projects on Waymarking.com

Artist Fletcher Martin painted this Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural “The Horse Breakers” in 1940 for the Lamesa post office. The post office has since moved, but the mural remains in its original location in what is now a school district office.

“‘The Horse Breakers’ is an oil-on-canvas mural that was painted by artist Fletcher Martin in 1939. During that time, Martin – who reportedly was a self-taught artist – was a visiting teacher in art schools in California. He died in 1979 at the age of 75 in New York City.

“Martin was awarded a commission by the federal agency called the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture to paint the mural for placement in the new U.S. Post Office building, which officially was opened and dedicated in March of 1939, in Lamesa.”

The mural “has been hidden away from public view for almost 30 years in a vacant building near downtown Lamesa.

“But, thanks to the local efforts of Randy Leonard and others, as well as a grant from the Weaver Foundation, that artwork soon will be restored and relocated in another building where it can be seen and admired by the public.”

Fine Art Conservation Lab

A valuable Depression Era oil-on-canvas-glued-to-a-wall mural called “The Horse Breakers” by renown artist Fletcher Martin, painted way back in 1939, is back in it’s original community of Lamesa, TX after it was removed from a wall in a building slated for demolition and sent for restoration to a professional art conservation lab in Santa Barbara, California. Most people in Lamesa didn’t even know about the notable painting, although its been present on the same wall where it was originally placed since 1939. I guess you had to be a real “ol’ timer” to remember it.

But The Horse Breakers broke into the news when it was reported in several media outlets to have been taken away for mural restoration last September 2015. People were unaware that such a mural existed! This is mainly because the building where this mural was located has been vacant for more than the past two decades and it had not been in public view for the past 30 years. Back then, the building was a federal post office building, which was owned by the Lamesa Independent School District. But as the building was not utilized, this mural was hidden from public view. It was probably a good thing too, given the value."