Name/Title
Linden Post Office "Dedication" [Cover]Description
Cover stamped "DEDICATION / New Post office / And Federal Building / LINDEN, TEXAS / June 25, 1938. Postmarked "LINDEN / JUN 25 1936 / TEX" and signed by the postmaster.Context
In the Linden post office mural, "Cotton Pickers", the artist's portrayal of a cotton plantation looks back to an earlier time before machines dominated agriculture. The mural recreates the dramatic interplay of workers engaged in harvesting cotton. Three barefoot, female laborers in a field stoop to pick cotton boles as they drag their long white sacks behind them. All of the women workers are dressed in white and their faces are hidden by their starched white bonnets. The patterns created by the white elements in the painting offer a striking contrast to the darkness surrounding foliage and draw the viewer's attention to the essential movement of the workers. The trailing white cotton sacks help give the impression of the toil endured by the stooped figures who seem slowed by the weight of their burden. In the middle distance, two more field hands make their way in the opposite direction through the rows of cotton. In the far distance on a sits the plantation owner's Mansion shaded by a thick cluster of trees. Beside it, in stark contrast, stands a field hand's quarters, a mere shanty with a barren, leafless tree standing symbolically beside it.