Antelope

As the Great Depression ravaged the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to breathe life back into the country's lungs by creating various "New Deal" programs.These programs covered a plethora of needs throughout the country and, most importantly, put citizens back to work.Among these programs was the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) (The Section), which aimed to provide unemployed artists' work and spruce up pre-existing buildings across the country.Among the projects completed under the TSFA was the vivid wall mural Antelope painted for the Florence, Colorado, post office by renowned artist Olive Rush.To better understand the mural that has graced the interior of this post office for eighty-four years, the life of Rush, the functions and goals of the TSFA, and Colorado's experiences with the Great Depression must be understood to contextualize this work.Olive Rush was born in 1873 to Quaker parents in Indiana; from childhood, she enjoyed drawing 1 and set her sights on