Santa Monica High School: Macdonald-Wright Murals - Santa Monica CA

City:: Santa Monica, CA
Site Type:: Art Works, Murals, Mosaics
New Deal Agencies:: Federal Arts Project (FAP), Arts Programs
Started:: 1938
Completed:: 1939
Artist:: Stanton Macdonald-Wright
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: Unknown
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

Artist Stanton Macdonald-Wright designed two murals for Barnum Hall Theater at Santa Monica High School. The works were funded by the Federal Arts Project (FAP).

In 1938, Macdonald-Wright completed a mural titled “Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” upon Barnum Hall’s asbestos stage curtain. The following year, he completed an 8×8-foot mosaic titled “Landing of the Vikings in Vinland” in the theater’s foyer.

Macdonald-Wright was supervisor for the Southern California division of the FAP from 1935 to 1943. He is considered “an important proponent of the nonrepresentational styles of art on the New Deal projects” (Kalfatovic, p. 370). His other New Deal–funded works in the region include murals at the Public Library and City Hall in Santa Monica, mosaics at Edison Middle School and Hooper Avenue School in Los Angeles, and mosaics at the Community Center in South Gate.