Wild Life in White Mountains
Frame: 86 x 172 in. (218.4 x 436.9 cm)
U.S. General Services Administration
Commissioned through the Section of Fine Arts, 1934-1943
This pair of murals by married artists Philip Guston and Musa McKim celebrates the mission of the U.S. Forest Service, specifically its conservation programs and regulation of the logging industry. Guston’s painting shows four loggers preparing felled trees for paper production. Healthy trees in the distance suggest that the forest will continue to replenish under the stewardship of the U.S. Forest Service. McKim’s mural portrays an array of native animals in their natural habitat. In the background, a mother and two children explore the thriving woodland, emphasizing the importance of conservation work for future generations.
Guston and McKim created these murals in 1941 for the headquarters building of the White Mountain National Forestry Department in Laconia, New Hampshire. In 2021, the murals were relocated to their current site, returning them once again to public view.
Guston and McKim met as art students in 1930 at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles and married in 1937 in New York City. During the New Deal, they each completed several commissions, including a mural by Guston for the auditorium of the Social Security Administration building in Washington, D.C., and a mural by McKim for the U.S. Post Office in Waverly, New York.
