- City:
- Riverside, CA
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Art Works, Schools, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1939
- Artists:
- Edwin Frank, Rex Brandt
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Rex Brandt was commissioned by the PWAP to paint five murals for Chemawa Junior High School in Riverside, CA. At the time, Brandt was a student at Riverside Community College.
When the school was remodeled in 1973, the murals were presumed lost. However, four of the five have happily since been found. Two now hang in the refurbished school, and two are in storage at the Riverside Art Museum. The Riverside Unified School District is still hoping to find the fifth. An attempt to have the murals restored is also currently underway.
“The panels in storage are 48 inches by 60 inches and consist of tempera painting on cement. They were created in 1938-39. One panel depicts laborers with a drilling machine and the other depicts Native Americans and a Spanish priest. The missing panel features stylized trees, mountains, a building and a large formation in the foreground.”
– Artist Spotlight: Mystery of Rex Brandt
Source notes
Project submitted by Gale Bjelland
Artist Spotlight: Mystery of Rex Brandt: https://www.inlandsocal.com/iguide/arts_galleries/content/news/stories/PE_News_Local_S_artist17.3e8f0cb.html
Hidden Treasures, Dayna Straehley, Press Enterprise, 2010 (https://www.pe.com/2010/12/31/hidden-treasures/), accessed May 2019.
Rex Brandt Biography: (https://www.calart.com/Data/featured/Rex_Brandt.asp), accessed May 2019.
Site originally submitted by Gale Bjelland on November 21, 2010.
Additional contributions by Hal and Maria Baker, May 2019.
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