So what about the Macomb Post Office? In 1943, the artist Boris Gilbertson was awarded a commission to produce a carved relief sculpture entitled 'Cow and Calf' for the post office. It was carved out of a slab of black walnut, measuring 38-3/8' x 63' x 3-1/2.' However, the piece was never installed.
Speculation is that the subject matter was indelicate, featuring a calf nursing from its mother while she peacefully grazes on grass. The pastoral image emerges out of a mahogany-toned slab of wood, somewhat obscuring a scene typical of a farming community. Likely, the local committee preferred a more colorful, heroic, human-centered mural featuring industrious local citizens to grace the post office lobby.
The carving intended for display in the Macomb post office still exists! It somehow ended up with the General Services Administration, but in 1987 it was transferred to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. One wonders if it might be possible to have the carving returned to Macomb and either placed in the post office or the Western Illinois Museum, where it would be more positively received 83 years after its creation.
