City Hall Murals – St. Louis MO

Description

A 1990 St. Louis City Hall History Brochure contains the following description:

“The murals inside the Market and Tucker Blvd entrances were painted in 1934 by Carl Bonfig, who was described as a decorator. He was paid $1.37 an hour under a federal works program. He was commissioned to copy existing paintings to create the six murals. Three were completed — ‘The Spirit of St. Louis,’ a picture of Charles Lindberg’s plane; a painting of the Forest Park statue of King Louis IX on his horse and ‘Front Street in 1840,’ a copy of a lithograph by Joseph Casper Wild that shows the riverfront and the first building used as City Hall — when the project came to the attention of the Municipal Art Commission. They halted the project, saying the murals did not meet the artistic standards required for a public building.”