LLOYD GOFF (1908-1982). Delta Co. Before the Fencing, 1939. Pencil and gouache. 4.25in. x 9.25in.. Signed lower left. Si...

Description

LLOYD GOFF (1908-1982)
Delta Co. Before the Fencing, 1939
Pencil and gouache
4.25in. x 9.25in.
Signed lower left
Signed, dated, and titled on bottom

This pencil and gouache was a preparatory study for the Cooper, Texas, Post Office Mural. This study shows the freshness of the concept for this mural. While there are modifications in the final version that were approved by the WPA before being executed in oil, the concept primarily underwent "fine tuning" before work began. In his book, The Texas Post Office Murals, Philip Parisi writes of this mural:

"Lloyd Goff had an amusing time painting this quasicaricature of a group of untidy, trail-worn cowboys pausing for a water break. One cowpoke, who is pictured with his shirt off to reveal his sunburned arms and bulging biceps, takes a long swig from a wooden bucket. Goff played up the Texas cowpoke stereotype further by prominently placing a sun-bleached cow's skull, flag-like, on a pole. A cowpuncher on horseback and a longhorn saunter along in the background to complete the arrangement of props for this imaginative Texas vignette.

Despite the playful treatment of the mural's subject matter, authenticity of the figures emerged as one of Goff's central concerns. He had reworked the sketch that he had submitted for the Dallas post office mural competition. In that design, the figures originally did not fit Section administrators' idea of cowboys. They told the artist that the cowboys in the sketch seemed too gentlemanly and needed to be made into typical "cowboy types and not handsome types of Dude-ranchers." Goff, therefore, proceeded to transform the figures as "more rugged types," with satisfactory results."

Provenance:
Estate of Lloyd Goff
Bequeathed to Lloyd Goff's Partner, Richard W. Thompson, Albuquerque, NM
Gift to private collection
Fred R. Kline Gallery

Inscribed on bottom:
Delta Co. Before the Fencing -- Lloyd Goff
1st Rough for Mural, Treasury Dept Commission
Federal Bldg. Cooper Texas 1939

Literature:
The Texas Post Office Murals - Art for the People, by Philip Parisi, published by Texas A&M Press, Illus. p. 41 (image below)



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