- City:
- San Francisco, CA
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Work Relief Programs, Federal Arts Project (FAP), Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1940
- Completed:
- 1940
- Artist:
- Diego Rivera
Description
“My mural will picture the fusion between the great past of the Latin American lands, as it is deeply rooted in the soil, and the high mechanical developments of the United States.” – Diego Rivera
This 22′ by 74′ fresco on panels was commissioned from the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera by the organizers of the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Rivera and his crew completed the piece in four months. Rivera’s largest free-standing work, “Pan-American Unity” was the centerpiece of Art in Action, an innovative exhibit where fair-goers could watch artists create their work. After the fair closed, the mural was intended to be placed in the new library of San Francisco Junior College (now City College of San Francisco). This library was part of a grand architectural plan developed by Timothy Pflueger, a prominent local architect, one of the organizers of the fair, and Rivera’s patron and friend. World War Two interrupted these plans. Pflueger’s library was never built and the ten panels of the mural were crated and stored first on the fairgrounds and then at the College until Rivera’s death in 1957. That year, Milton Pflueger, Timothy’s younger brother, proposed to install the mural in the lobby of the new San Francisco City College campus theater. The mural was moved into this lobby in 1961.
The mural is available to view during limited hours at the City College of San Francisco’s Ocean View campus.
More information is available in this mini-documentary:
Source notes
https://www.riveramural.com/home.asp?language=english https://www.ccsf.edu/NEW/en/about-city-college/diego-rivera-mural.html https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Building-a-home-for-City-College-s-Rivera-mural-3572583.php Originally posted in the New Deal Art Registry: https://www.newdealartregistry.org/ https://gringostarr.com/index.php/portfolio/ccsf-main-campus-a-dream-realized/Site Details
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David Spector
I was not able to find a gallery of high-definition photographs of New Deal or Depression artwork, or even just murals. Your website is otherwise amazingly detailed, and if you ever can afford the time and cost, such a gallery would be a wonderful addition. While I’m most interested in the several controversial U.S. public murals of the Depression period, there certainly are lots more public paintings, sketches, typographic, and other notable artwork, much of which was sponsored by New Deal agencies.