A Visit to the Jungle

Various Artists

The fresco “A Visit to the Jungle” was commissioned by the New Deal’s Federal Art Project (FAP). The mural is housed in the Jane Addams Elementary School library. Casein tempera on acoustic plaster – this was a groundbreaking technique that did not destroy the acoustic properties of the plaster. This story-telling mural illustrates an original children’s fable, written by the artist, where children encounter an assortment of wise and friendly animals. The FAP of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) encouraged artists to consider the setting of their art. Scenes of a children’s story certainly met that mandate for this elementary school library; Contemporaneous accounts note that the artist wrote a story of children visiting the jungle specifically to accompany her mural at the Jane Addams School.