STYLE : DESIGN : Of Murals, Messages and Memories

In 1935, Leo Katz completed a mural for Frank Wiggins Trade School (now L.A. Trade Tech) as part of the Works Project Administration/ Federal Arts Project, a Depression-era welfare program for artists. But Katz included a bare-breasted woman in his composition--which the school board deemed improper--and the mural was removed. No such problems doomed Fletcher Martin’s monumental depiction of mail delivery at the U.S. Post Office in San Pedro, and today it is one of the region’s most beautiful post office decorations.

Created during the economic crisis and labor violence of the ‘30s, roughly 165 WPA works throughout Southern California survive. Rather than reflections of troubled times, they are idealized and comforting visions of California history and industry. In Hollywood High School’s library, Haldane Douglas depicted the Hollywood Bowl and the motion-picture industry; at the U.S. Post Office in Huntington Park, Norman Chamberlain painted sailors relaxing around the harbor; at the U.S. Post Office in Compton, James Redmond portrayed Spanish missionaries; at the Canoga Park post office, Maynard Dixon focused on vaqueros herding palomino horses, and in San Bernardino High School’s auditorium, Rex Brandt covered the local stamp mill and mine.

The WPA program began in 1933--the middle of the Depression--at the suggestion of George Biddle, an artist who had studied with Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. Biddle persuaded President Franklin D. Roosevelt to institute a program similar to one the Mexican government created, paying artists “plumbers’ wages” to decorate government buildings. Apart from censorship incidents such as Katz’s, this effort sparked an artistic renaissance: Books were written, plays were produced and thousands of artists were put to work painting, printing and sculpting.

The programs provided needy artists with work and money. They also offered artists a range of creative options, from small paintings to massive public commissions. For private works, the artists enjoyed wide latitude in their choice of subject matter and style. But for public projects, the government wanted only art that would reassure a badly shaken American public of the strength of the American way of life.

To prevent any last-minute design changes that might offend the public, artists had to submit sketches before starting and then gain final approval from local and federal officials before installing the work. Even so, a few titanic battles were waged over style and content, garnering national headlines and giving anti-Roosevelt politicians ammunition to fight the re-funding of these programs in Congress. The administration weathered the opposition, however, and the programs remained in effect until the United States entered World War II.

Almost a half-century later, the murals still dot the region, uplifting us when we least expect it: while reading a book, mailing a letter, cheering at a basketball game. One era’s legacy to another, the works reaffirm that art is--or should be--part of everyday life.