Oil Fields of Graham - Graham, TX
Posted by: WalksfarTX
N 33° 06.342 W 098° 35.442
14S E 538189 N 3663079
WPA era mural for the post office. Post Office is now a museum. The museum is open 9 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Friday and 10:00 - 3:00 Saturday.
Waymark Code: WM12R2R
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/05/2020
Views: 0
NRHP Nomination Form"The Hogue mural measures approximately 12 feet in width and 7 feet in height. The mural depicts an oil
field scene which represents the increasing reliance on oil production for the area's economy. The flat, shallow
planes of the composition clearly delineate a foreground, middle ground and background despite the compressed
and crowded arrangement of figures and machinery. The central figures of the middle ground are two oil field
workers welding a pipeline with the machinery behind them depicted with a stylistic precision. The figure on the
far left of the foreground is a portrait of the town's founder, Edwin S. Graham. His beard, historical dress and
detached pose distinguish him from the other figures in the composition who are engaged in the production of oil.
On the right side of the mural are two figures; a man holding a paper with a cigarette hanging from his mouth is an
oil field foreman, and the man in a business suit pointing to the paper with a pencil represents an oil company
executive. According to Hogue, the foreman was based on the artist himself while the model for the executive was S. Boyd Street, the postmaster in Graham. The background is littered with an array of
elements from the new landscape including derricks, oil storage tanks, and trucks with the abstract forms of the oil
field machinery dominating the landscape."