Since my last post I traveled from my current home in East Texas to my former home in Phoenix, taking a load of household goods in anticipation of my permanent move in ... well, sometime in the very near future. It was a rather quick trip, a total of six days driving the 2,600 miles round trip and three days unloading, unpacking, and resting in between. It was a trip designed to move, not a trip for recreation, but I managed to find some of my favorite subjects along the way.
Ranger, Texas, almost 300 miles due west of my home base, has a Post Office mural. "The Crossroads Town" was painted in 1939 by Emil Bisttram, a Hungarian-born artist who immigrated to America at the age of 11. He studied under Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican muralist, and painted in Taos in the 1930s. He found Ranger, a small town of about 2,400 85 miles west of Fort Worth, to be a shell of its former self, having at one time enjoying the plenty of the Texas oil boom in the early 1920s. I found the same dilapidated city in 2015, with nothing appearing to be new in the past 40 or 50 years and wondering when this little town will succumb to an ever-struggling economy. Most of the town's buildings appear to have been abandoned and few cars or citizens were on the streets. In Bisttram's mural he attempted to depict Ranger as it had been in the previous decade and showed hope for a revitalization, which apparently never came.
Some believe that the figure in the foreground of this detail depicts the artist with his paints and brushes as he perhaps left the post office after a day of painting, followed by a dejected dog.
Not one person was in the post office or even came into the post office as I took a few photos and discussed the mural with the clerk on duty, a rather attractive woman of perhaps 50 who seemed to be well-spoken but yet had no clue as to the importance of the mural. She appeared to be interested in hearing more about it and when I suggested she check with the local library to see if it had a copy of the book "The Texas Post Office Murals" by by Philip Parisi, she confessed that she was totally unaware if the town even had a public library. I was stunned!
Bisttram was paid $880 for this mural measuring 4'6" by 12' and today it appears to be in good condition.
9 comments:
You find the most wonderful murals and provide excellent historical information. We are lucky to be able to enjoy the areas you visit; thanks!
Wow, just wow...about the public library. The mural is pretty cool.
Hello, it is a beautiful mural. It seems odd that the clerk did not know if the town had a library. Maybe she just moved there. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!
That mural is beautiful and full of vivid colors. Your description of the town however feels a little sad. I can't imagine living in a small town and not having any idea if there is a library. Very strange. Even the tiny town of Yarnell Arizona has a library. When my friend David had his cabin in Yarnell, I used to bring up books to donate to the library.
it is a lovely mural and i can't wait to see what you find in AZ to share with us. that is a LONG hard trip in that short a time. i am shocked about not even knowing if there is a library there and also that someone who works with the mural had no inkling about it and did not care about finding out...
Hmmmm. She didn't know about the public library? Hmmmm.
This is a wonderful mural. The artist was truly gifted. And I love the idea that he may have painted himself into it.
Glad you're back safely. That was a long and I bet tiring trip.
yeah, i'm tired just thinking about your trip. the mural is neat. sorry the town is not doing well.
Wow, those are beautiful murals! Quite the trip you had.
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