- City:
- Fullerton, CA
- Site Type:
- Murals, Art Works
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), Arts Programs
- Completed:
- 1934
- Artist:
- Charles Kassler
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Charles Kassler painted Pastoral California at Fullerton Union High School in 1934. He received funding from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Located in the Louis Plummer Auditorium (built in 1930), the mural is 75′ x 15′. It was the first of three public artworks funded by the New Deal in Fullerton, California.
Pastoral California is one of the largest frescoes created during the New Deal. Kassler first drafted the mural design on paper and then transferred this draft, one 36 inch square, at a time onto the wall to be traced. The mural was then painted in true fresco technique (watercolor on top of wet plaster).
Caroline Luce notes that the mural “depicted the lives of both indigenous and Spanish residents in Alta California and emphasized the disparities of wealth and power in the colonial period. At a time when Mexicans were being blamed for the city’s economic woes, Kessler celebrated Los Angeles’ Mexican history. His mural presented students at the school a history lesson about inequality and racism, prompting the school’s Board of Directors to whitewash the mural in 1939” (Luce, “Reluctant Modernist”).
Deemed “vulgar” and “inappropriate” by the High School District and Junior College Board of Trustees, Kassler’s mural was indeed whitewashed in 1939. Before it was covered, Anne Rayne asked that the mural be coated in oil to preserve it for possible restoration attempts in the future. Thankfully, it was restored in 1997. In 2021, it was given the status of local landmark by a unanimous vote of the Fullerton City Council.
Source notes
Caroline Luce, "Hugo Ballin's Los Angeles" [online exhibit]
"'Pastoral California' Mural and YMCA Sign Designated Local Landmarks," Fullerton Observer, March 18, 2021.
Epting, Charles. The New Deal in Orange County. Charleston, The History Press, 2014.
Site originally submitted by Marshall Duell on April 8, 2009.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald, Diem Duong.
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I noticed that these two map pins for Fullerton Union High School are not correct. The pins show a location off the Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano, CA – not 40 miles further north in Fullerton where they actually should be. The coordinates are not correct, the address is correct.