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| Keywords: Country-Post-Ariel-Rios.jpg Doris Lee at the Ariel Rios Federal Building Washington D C Date 1938; dimensions 6' x 13' 6 Photographed as part of an assignment for the General Services Administration Title date and keywords from information provided by the photographer Credit line Photographs in the Carol M Highsmith Archive Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Gift; Carol M Highsmith; 2009; DLC/PP-2009 083 Forms part of Photographs in the Carol M Highsmith Archive Mural information from the http //m gsa gov/m/vpb/01028/art_11 html General Services Administration During the New Deal era rural life was often idealized in art and the popular imagination while in reality farmers struggled with chronically low crop prices severe draught and dust storms Paintings like Grant Wood's American Gothic 1930 enshrined the farmer as a symbol of traditional American life strong and enduring even in the face of adversities Similarly Lee's Country Post presents an idealized view of farm life with a cheerful group of rural Americans enjoying the convenience of mail delivery A farmer and his son perhaps the same young man who reads the newspaper in General Store and Post Office receive a shipment of tools Behind them the mail carrier drives an automobile Rural mail carriers at this time supplied their own transportation which until around 1929 was most likely a horse and wagon The carrier's automobile along with the train racing toward the right edge of the painting signify modernity speed and technological advancement in contrast to the church steeple on the left which symbolizes the endurance of faith and tradition In the right foreground a boy riding a horse still hitched for plowing rushes to post a letter while a woman opens and reads hers and even the dog and chicken appear interested in the latest news LOC-image highsm 24944 Creator Carol M Highsmith 2011-09 PD-Highsmith Ariel Rios Federal Building mural photographs by Carol M Highsmith | ||||
