Art commissioned by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression can still be seen in schools, hospitals and public buildings across America, including this project on the Boundary County Courthouse in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
The three panels executed by Fletcher Martin represent the three key industries of the county’s economy: agriculture, mining and lumber. Martin’s career included service in the Navy and working as a printer and lumberjack. His many WPA projects show some influence of his studies with Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, especially in the agriculture panel.
Martin’s WPA work is mostly seen on buildings in California and Idaho, where he moved with his family for a time. Oddly, the mining panel has an inscription that it was designed for a California WPA project; it’s possible that Idaho was not its original destination.
Bonners Ferry is the county seat, almost equally distant from borders with Washington, Montana and Canada. The Art Deco courthouse was the county’s first purpose-built one. From the county’s creation in 1915 until this building went up in 1940, county offices were housed in a former hotel and school. The clip below is from the Spokane Spokesman Review from August 14, 1941.
The artwork is so impressive.
Something very familiar about this….