Paw Paw: The Process
On August 21, 1939, Edward Rowan of the Section of Fine Arts wrote to Lopez inviting him to submit designs for a mural to be painted in the lobby of the new post office in Paw Paw, Michigan. He notes that upon approval of a design, a contract would be prepared with Lopez’s payment being $850–composed of $250 paid for preliminary sketches, $300 paid following the approval of a full size cartoon, and $300 once the mural was completed, installed, and approved. The timeline for the mural’s completion was noted as one year. The following day, Rowan wrote to Lopez again, acknowledging the Section invitation and Lopez’s “achievements in the field of mural painting,” but suggesting that Lopez did not paint previous Section murals with enough time and attention. On the 29, Lopez responded that he believed Rowan was “probably correct” in his criticism. He wrote that he would treat the Paw Paw mural with “all possible care.” He also wrote that he intended to visit Paw Paw and make at least four preliminary sketches, which he would send in a month’s time.
About six weeks later, on October 16, Lopez mailed Rowan five black and white sketches. He wrote that the first sketch showed “people of the town at work and at play” with a center panel illustrating the town’s agricultural production of fruits and grains. Lopez continued, writing that “the city of Paw Paw is in one of the most important fruit belts in Michigan. The grape is perhaps their principal product. They hold a grape festival there in late September every year. A mural of this type is what the people I talked to there will favor. They all suggested ‘something about grapes.’ This sketch is also my favorite and I wish you would give it special consideration.” The center third of Lopez’s sketch is filled with a large and graphic depiction of produce–wheat, corn, apples, a pear, a strawberry, the famed grapes of Paw Paw, and at the base, what looks to be the town’s namesake, a paw paw fruit. The wheat and assorted fruits sit atop layered graphic shapes shaded in gray, white, and black. To the left and behind these shapes, four townspeople tend and harvest the grapes and other crops of the town. To the right, similar characters play music and dance, and in the hills behind them, small figures can be seen playing sports. To each side of the postmaster’s door beneath these scenes, long, thin panels have been drawn that stretch across the wall, tree roots meandering across them.
While images are not held in the National Archives of Lopez’s other sketches, he described them to Rowan in his letter. The second sketch explores the industry of grapes in Paw Paw, alone, with figures picking and packing grapes and making grape juice. The third sketch shows “pioneers resting on the road to Chicago,” which ran through Plymouth–we can assume this sketch was likely similar to Lopez’s work for Dwight and Plymouth. Lopez’s final two sketches, like his work for Plymouth, celebrates the connectivity provided by the postal service. One nods to the conditions of life in Michigan during the Great Depression, with a young couple leaving the city to “go back to the land,” the man planting a mailbox in the ground, “because this is his connection to the world.” In Lopez’s final sketch, he drew a hand fanning out letters and postcards.
Rowan nearly immediately responded to Lopez’s sketches and letter confirming the office received them all. He wrote that the Section had chosen sketch #1, and complimented Lopez’s work, stating that “the design possesses great dignity and charm and is further enhanced by the entertaining way in which the products of the field combined with the labors of the people are brought into the composition.” He suggested that Lopez reconsider the inclusion of the “rather hard outline” in dark colors behind the fruits and that he “harmonize” the right panel to match the “dignity of the left end.” In terms of what he appreciated about the right side of the panel, Rowan noted that the “activities of skating or hockey in the background are regarded as extremely interesting.” Rowan closed his letter by writing that Lopez could begin work on the two-inch scale color sketch required by the office and requesting that Lopez fill out a technical outline so that his contract could be drawn up.
In early November, Lopez completed the outline, naming the mural “Bounty,” writing that it was to be a fresco seco mural, and further noting that this meant it would be made of egg tempera on plaster. Fresco seco murals were Lopez’s chosen kind of painting for Section murals–the process consisted of the laying of new, fresh plaster, and the painting of that plaster with water-based pigments, which integrated with the still-setting plaster substrate. On the form, Lopez also wrote the mural’s exact dimensions to be 13 feet and six inches by four feet and six inches, and confirmed it would be completed August 31, 1940. He sent Rowan a print of a new version of his sketch with the form, with changes made based on Rowan’s suggestions. He wrote that he eliminated several of the characters on the right, but believed the “spirit of people at play is still well represented.” He asked for Rowan’s opinion before beginning on the color sketch. On the 20th of the month, Rowan wrote to Lopez acknowledging receipt of the new sketch and suggesting he proceed with the color drawing.
Based on correspondence in the National Archives, it seems that Lopez proceeded to work for over two months on the color sketch, redoing it several times. Meanwhile, the postmaster general’s office granted permission for the plaster wall to be prepared for the work. In late January, Lopez mailed Rowan both the two-inch scale color sketch and a full-size detail of two men’s faces on the right side of the mural, playing the harmonica and violin, respectively. Rowan approved the work and asked that Lopez start on the full size cartoon. Lopez wrote to Rowan that he was starting on the cartoon in early February, but that it would likely be some time before he sent a photograph of the finished drawing as he planned on “making a very complete drawing.” Lopez spent two months completing the cartoon, and sent Rowan a photograph of it on May 7, noting that he intended to begin work on the wall on June 1.
On May 17, Rowan wrote back to Lopez that he found the work on the cartoon to be satisfactory. He offered one suggestion for a change in the main panel, writing that “it looks now as if the same gentleman has posed for several of the heads” and that Lopez might depict a greater variety of faces. In regards to the long, thin low panels that showed roots in Lopez’s sketch, Rowan wrote that in the cartoon, they also contained a “heart with arteries” which he thought would “prove too unpleasant to many people.” He asked that “some other motif be used.” Rowan continued, suggesting that the plaster strips below these panels that surround the bulletin boards might be included in his work, as well. He offered that Lopez might paint these in one of the colors used in the mural and asked for a simple drawing from Lopez showing how he might do this. Finally, Rowan suggested Lopez begin work on the wall.
The following week, Lopez responded to Rowan’s letter with enthusiasm. He wrote that Rowan’s suggestion that he envelop the plaster surrounding the office’s bulletin boards into the work gave him an idea. He stated that the strips would be adorned with tree roots and that they would “[carry] the color of the earth all the way down to the marble wainscot.” He wrote that he would “paint the strata of the earth and such things as small living things in the earth” on the strips in “grayed colors.” He continued, stating that he believed this addition to be “significant to the mural above as the people… painted are definitely people of the soil”. Thus, he found it “quite appropriate to paint the earth under them.” Rowan responded in early June, approving the plan.
In mid-June, Lopez wrote to Rowan on his progress. By this time, he had finally begun work on the mural itself, noting that he had been “working day and night on the wall and [was] about one fourth finished.” He likewise noted that he had started painting the faces in the mural based on those of townspeople, with the postmaster, Mr. O’Grady, included. Lopez continued to work on the mural all summer and into the fall–surpassing the Section’s deadline of August 31. He wrote to Rowan on September 10 to note that he had “finally finished with the mural at Paw Paw, Michigan.” He included final photographs taken by a Paw Paw photographer and a color sketch with his letter.
Lopez likewise submitted a form stipulating future care for the mural, noting that he had sprayed the finished work with an egg and water emulsion, and that it could be cleaned with a “damp cloth rubbed over the surface.” In his final letter to Rowan regarding the mural at Paw Paw, he went on to note that he “had a grand time while doing the work and everyone in the Post Office offered all the help they could.” Rowan authorized the final payment to Lopez for Bounty on October 21.
Sources
- “Paw Paw.” Box 51, Case Files Concerning Embellishments of Public Buildings, 1934-1943, Entry 133, Records of the Public Buildings Service, Record Group 121, National Archives II, College Park, Maryland.
