- City:
- Salinas, CA
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Sculpture and Bas Relief
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Federal Arts Project (FAP)
- Completed:
- 1937
- Artist:
- Jo Mora
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
California artist Jo Mora produced 23 cast-concrete, bas-relief busts (each approximately 12″ x 18″ in size) for the exterior of the Monterey County Courthouse. The reliefs appear in the spandrels between first and second story windows all around the building and in the courtyard.
The work is titled “California Faces” and represents various types of people important in California history. Mora called some of them Indian Man, Indian Woman, Junipero Serra, Juan Cabrillo, John Fremont, Pioneer Man, Pioneer Woman, Spanish Woman, Asian Woman. At that time, this was an unusual acknowledgement of California’s diversity.
The project was funded by the Federal Art Project (FAP), an arm of the Works Progress Administration, and installed in 1937.
The courthouse and its sculptures were placed on the National Historic Register in 2008.
Source notes
History plaque on east side of courthouse
Site originally submitted by Peter Hiller, Jo Mora Trust on February 15, 2014.
Additional contributions by New Deal Art Registry, Richard Walker.
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