Chemawa Middle School Rex Brandt Murals - Riverside CA

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:: No
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