Hollywood High School: Mako Bas Reliefs – Los Angeles CA

City:
Los Angeles, CA

Site Type:
Bas Reliefs, Art Works

New Deal Agencies:
Federal Arts Project (FAP), Arts Programs

Completed:
1938

Artist:
Bartholomew (Bartolo) Mako

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Marked:
Unknown

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

In 1938, artist Bartolo Mako created a bas-relief sculpture for Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, CA. The relief is located above the entrance to the liberal arts building, which was constructed with Public Works Administration (PWA) funding.

Cast in concrete, the relief features historically important intellectuals—scientists, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, engineers, astronomers, and philosophers— including Euclid, Archemedes, Plato, Aristotle, (Luigi) Galviani, (Isaac) Newton, (Benjamin) Franklin, (Antoine) Lavoisier, (Leon) Foucault, and Galileo (Galilei).

Mako was likely commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP), as sculptor Merrell Gage had been two years earlier to create a frieze and free-standing pylon for the south entrance to the science building.

Source notes

C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: Architecture Under the Public Works Administration, 1933 to 1939 (United States Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1939).

Public Works Administration, "List of all Allotted Non-Federal Projects, All Programs, by State and Docket, as of May, 30, 1942,” entry A1, no. 59, record group 135. Washington D.C.: Federal Works Administration, 1942. Located at the National Archives II, College Park, MD.

LAUSD Art & Artifact Collection/Archive and Museum Collection Inventory Report (New Deal WPA)

Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on September 19, 2022.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker & Natalie McDonald.

Location Info


1521 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Los Angeles County

Coordinates: 34.0982, -118.339

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