- City:
- Los Banos, CA
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
- Artist:
- Lew E. Davis
Description
This Lew E. Davis tempera mural "Early Spanish Caballeros" was painted for the Los Banos post office in 1940.
According to Kathryn A. Flynn's book The New Deal: A 75th Anniversary Celebration, "One of the most fruitful competitions of the Section project took place in 1939. It goal was to select the best mural design for a post office in each of our forty-eight states. Over three thousand entries were submitted. Jurors wer Maurice Sterne, Henry Varnum Poor, Edgar Miller, and Olin Dows. Once chosen, the forty-eight selections were exhibited around the country and shown in Life magazine that December." The Los Banos mural was judged the best in California.
The mural now hangs at the local Milliken Museum at 905 Pacheco Blvd., in Los Banos.
Source notes
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I’ve seen, photographed this beautiful mural while visiting the Milliken Museum in downtown Los Banos, CA. In real life, its colors are vibrant. Visiting the Milliken Museum is free and it is open 7-days a week, from 1PM to 4PM. Parking is behind the museum. In addition to this mural, the museum has a collection of items on display that were once owned by cattle baron Henry Miller, of Miller & Lux cattle company. There’s also a small, but select collection of Yokut stone mortars, baskets collected prior to the flooding that created nearby San Luis Reservoir. The museum’s selection of local history books on sale is excellent. I highly recommend “One Man Show, Henry Miller in the San Joaquin”, and “Our Sport” a history of market hunting and how the Dept of Fish and Wildlife put a stop to it. Visitors to Los Banos can also visit a large Tule Elk wildlife preserve nearby with a modern, state-of-the-art Visitor’s Center.
Cait Hutnik, San Jose, CA