Helen Lundeberg Sites

In 1940, Helen Lundeberg created a mosaic mural, "Quests for Mankind," for Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park, CA. The mural was funded by the Work Projects Administration Art Program (WPAAP). The mosaic depicts three stages in the progress of humankind: a family of early cave dwellers, a Hellenistic teaching scene, and Renaissance intellectuals with Pisa's Campanile in the background. A second, smaller panel depicts three founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence and three students looking at a globe. According to the school website, "the murals originally hung as five separate pieces on the outside north wall of the Assembly...

Artist Lorser Feitelson painted a mural in three panels at Edison Middle School in Los Angeles, CA. He was funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP). "The central panel pictures the great inventor and some of his contributions. On the left are Edison's predecessors, Farraday , Henry, and Maxwell, and their original instruments, together with an allegory showing the genii of the new knowledge, aroused to create the electrification of the modern world. On the right are the developments growing out of Edison's electrical improvements and the men who contributed to the conquest of time and space in the long-distance...

In 1941, the Federal Arts Project (FAP) commissioned prominent artist, Helen Lundeberg, to paint a 3-wall mural that covers 900 sq. ft. at the Old Fullerton City Hall in Fullerton, California. In addition to working on several New Deal art projects, she helped to found the Post-Surrealist art movement.  The mural she painted in the Old Fullerton City Hall is named The History of Southern California. It depicts California's history from the landing of Juan Cabrillo in the 1500s through the development of the movie industry in the Twentieth Century. Similar to many other murals painted in this era it was...

Helen Lundeberg, assisted by Donald Totten, painted a two-panel mural at George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, CA. The panels, titled "Valley Forge, 1777" and "Yorktown, 1781," are located in the auditorium's interior foyer. Completed in 1941, the mural was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP). "Valley Forge, 1777" depicts George Washington against a snowy background as he assists a fallen soldier towards a fire. "Yorktown, 1781" depicts George Washington standing before a church with a pen in his right hand and a sword in his left. Both murals are made of plaster and petrochrome and feature the...

Grevillea park is graced by an gargantuan mosaic mural, called "History of Transportation."  This extraordinary mural is 8 feet high and 240 feet long, composed of 60 panels. It is made of cast concrete and terrazzo paneled walls.  It is the largest petrachrome mural in the world and one of the last examples of petrachrome mosaic art (that is, made up of tiny stones). The mural was created by artist Helen Lundeberg with the support of the New Deal Federal Art Project in 1939-42.  (The FAP was part of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA). Originally installed in the nearby Centinela Park,...

In 1937, with Federal Art Project (FAP) funding, Helen Lundeberg painted an oil-on-canvas mural for the Hall of Records in Los Angeles, CA. Lundeberg's mural was located in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room, alongside FAP murals by Charles H. Davis, Lorser Feitelson, and Buckley MacGurrin (see linked projects). The Hall of Records, built in 1911, was demolished after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. The status of all five murals is unknown. Lundeberg's other FAP works in the region include a pair of murals, "Quests of Mankind" (1940), at Canoga Park High School in Canoga Park, CA; a pair of murals, "History of...

Grace Rivet Clements and Helen Lundeberg painted two 18' by 33' frescoes for Venice High School (Los Angeles, CA) in 1941: “History of Southern California” and “History of Early California.”  The frescoes were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) and the artists were assisted by Aurel J. Leitner, Edwin T. Emery, Miriam Farrington, and Serena Swanson.  The two murals are located in the school library. Sylvia Moore writes that the frescoes "narrate the history of California in unrelated vignettes that seem to float across the walls of the library. On the east wall is the History of Early California,...