David Hicks Overmyer (April 5, 1889,

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

– March 26, 1973) was an artist active in the 20th century in Kansas. He is most notable for his murals. His first major commission was in the Kansas State Library building, started in 1934 as part of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

.North, 70. The murals which depict the disciplines of K-State at the time, include panels focusing on the concepts of "1) science and industry, 2) agricultural and animal husbandry 3) the arts nd4) the home." The preliminary studies for the mural are currently held by the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art on the Kansas State University Manhattan Campus. In 1951, the Kansas Legislature commissioned Overmyer to paint the first floor of the Kansas State Capital building with eight images depicting Kansas history. The scenes are titled ''The Coming of the Spaniards'', ''

Battle of Arickaree A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

'', ''

Battle of Mine Creek The Battle of Mine Creek, also known as the Battle of Little Osage, was fought on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, as part of Price's Missouri Campaign during the American Civil War. Major-General Sterling Price had begun an expediti ...

'', ''Building a Sod House'', ''Lewis and Clark in Kansas'', ''Westward Ho'', ''Arrival of the Railroad'', and ''

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

''. Overmyer married his wife née Grace McKinley Woodward (1894-1975) on May 21, 1921.

Exhibitions

From February 5-May 22, 2011, the Mulvane Art Museum at

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

showed an exhibit of his works, profiling his role as a regional artist.

References

Works cited

* American muralists Artists from Topeka, Kansas 1889 births 1973 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-1880s-stub