Continental Post Rider, 1775-1789

The U.S. Post Office Department was founded in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress. Its first duty was to provide secure communication between members of the Continental Congress and then later between Congress and the newly formed Continental Army. Calder’s Continental Post Rider (1775-1789) idealizes the men responsible for delivering these critical messages during wartime and makes clear how they carried out their task. The Rider has a saddle at his feet, saddle bags slung over his shoulder, and reins in hand. He carries a letter and a pistol, a testament to the danger of his mission, but his posture and direct gaze project unflappable confidence in his mission.

In 1885, Alexander Stirling Calder studied with influential American artist Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art before spending two years in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts. Calder is one of the oldest and most established sculptors selected for a commission in the U.S. Postmaster General’s suite. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and the American Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers. He is best known for the Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia and George Washington as President, a sculpture affixed to the Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park, New York City.