• City Hall: Ballin Murals - Burbank CA
    Artist Hugo Ballin painted two murals for City Hall in Burbank, CA. Ballin likely received some funding from the Works Projects Administration (WPA) Art Project prior to its termination in 1943. Both murals were fully restored in 2001. "Burbank Industry" (8' x 24') is located in the City Hall rotunda. It is "a painting with multiple planes that marked the passage of time, each layer representing a phase in Burbank’s transformation from a small community of farmers to a center of film production to the capitol of the aviation industry. Although Burbank’s indigenous and Mexican past is notably absent from Ballin’s...
  • El Rodeo Elementary School Mural – Beverly Hills CA
    Hugo Ballin painted a mural, "Rudimentary Education," at El Rodeo Elementary School in Beverly Hills, CA. Completed in 1934, the mural was funded by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and—upon termination of the PWAP—the Federal and State Emergency Relief Administrations (FERA/SERA). The mural is oil on plaster and approximately 1500 square feet. "Ballin traced his design on to the wall for assistants to complete and included several symbolic references. Towards the top was the Egyptian figure of Set, inventor of numbers, and below him, Tubal-Cain, the ancient metal worker. In the center was a scene of a teacher...