Have you ever stood in line for stamps at the Bluffton post office and wondered why there is a mural on the lobby’s north wall?
Who was the artist and what does the mural portray? And, who paid for the mural?
In 1935, the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts sponsored an artist juried contest to help find artists for federal jobs. The Section of Fine Arts was all a part of the Work Progress Administration, better known as the WPA.
The Bluffton post office mural artist’s name is Sante Graziani. He painted the mural in 1941. It is an oil on canvas painting.
The mural is part of a body of work that won him national recognition at age 22 and launched his career as artist and mentor to generations of young artists.
His work includes murals and portraits, book illustrations and pop art. His murals can be found in schools, banks, clinics, corporate offices and libraries – and in Bluffton’s post office lobby.
Graziani died at age 85 in March of 2005. His obituary was published in the Boston Globe newspaper.
He was recipient of many art awards.
In 1942 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Yale and taught there from 1946 to 1951. He earned a master’s degree from Yale in 1948.
From 1951 to 1981 he was dean of what was then called the School of the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts.
The Bluffton mural depicts Joseph DeFord and his friends building the first cabin in what eventually was called Bluffton. When DeFord lived here the unincorporated community was known as Shannon.
One interesting note about the painting is the horse shoe. When the mural was unveiled local farmers pointed out that the shoe on the horse was actually a race horse shoe, not a work horse shoe.
Today, the mural’s story is part of forgotten Bluffton, as is the horse shoe.
You can see the artist’s signature at the bottom right corner of the mural.
Click here for more art by Sante Graziani
Click here for more information about the artist
The Ada post office also has a mural, by a different artist. It was commissioned under the same program as Bluffton's mural. Click here for the story of Ada's mural.
