Coit Tower, the 1933 Art Deco marvel, was built with funds that Lillie Hitchcock Coit bequested to the City of San Francisco. The monolithic structure stands atop Telegraph Hill in Pioneer Park. Designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard, the 210-foot tower is made of unpainted reinforced concrete. The building's interior murals were the first intiative of The Public Works of Art Project, a New Deal program to employ artists during the Great Depression.
Surveying the land.
The 26 murals were painted in various mediums, including fresco, egg tempura and oil on canvas. Among the 26 artists selected to work on the project were Victor Arnautoff, Bernard Zakheim, John Langley Howard, Ray Boynton, Ralph Stackpole, Jose Moya del Pino, Otis Oldfield, Jane Berlandina and William Hesthal. In the spring of 1934, while the muralists painted, a strike shut down the Pacific Coast. Unemployed longshoremen and their union threatened to strike; by early summer they had brought waterfront commerce to a halt. Artists included subtle references to the event in some murals.
The Coit Tower project was considered controversial because of Mexican artist Diego Rivera's influence over some artists and the city's determination to separate politics from publicly-sponsored art projects. When the murals were completed, members of the San Francisco establishment were dismayed by the work's political content. The San Francisco Art Commision even delayed the opening of Coit Tower, while considering destroying the murals. After much debate, the tower was finally opened to the public - murals intact - in October 1934.
Conducting scientific experiments. Click photos to enlarge and view detail.
Panning for gold following the California Gold Rush.
In this portrait, notice the well-dressed people in the background, hoping to profit from others' hard manual labour.
Various flowers, including calla lilies vyed with oranges for crops grown in Bay Area fields.
California oranges grown in the Central Valley.
Gathering the harvest at area farms.
Picking grapes from the vineyards.
Baking San Francisco sourdough bread.
Producing milk for sale to area markets.
Milking the cows at a local dairy.
An abatoir and meat-packing plant.
A butcher's shop.
Moving cash at a city bank, with armed guards standing watch.
Reading the news - a public library's reading room and a private one at a toney gentlemen's club.
Scenes from a typical city rush hour, including a traffic accident in the upper left of the mural. At the newstand, one of the headlines screams "Police robbed; accuse Dillinger." In the forefront, a businessman is being held up by two armed men.
Popular transport methods included the ferry to Oakland.
A soda fountain and lunch counter for office workers.
A grocer's selling wine.
The working press.
Stop the presses! San Francisco labor relations were a main focus of the day. Some headlines feature news about the artists' murals painted in Coit Tower. In this mural, the bookshelves contain socialist tomes by Karl Marx, as well as Hebrew texts. At the time of their creation, scenes such as this were considered controversial, due to thinly-veiled political statements in the artwork.
Working class men lined up for work. This mural refers to often-difficult social and economic conditions for the working class following the Great Depression. Unemployment was high and wages low, for those lucky enough to find jobs. Long strikes in 1934 made it difficult for many families to make ends meet.
Keeping steam trains running and laying miles of railroad tracks.
Another surveyor.
This is the third in a series of pieces about San Francisco.
Phenomenal!! I am sooo delighted you shared them and that I didn't miss them!!!!! Thank you Miss Tara!! xoxo
Posted by: A Fanciful Twist | 23 June 2008 at 06:22
thanks for posting these, tara!
the coit tower murals are the first "sight" i take visitors to san francisco, and it's one of my favorite places. i photographed these murals and a few others around town a few months ago, just haven't had time to do anything with them---
i think it's the 'controversial' content of these murals that make them relevant. these days when an artist gets a public project it's very difficult to get past the design process; it seems mandatory that it be devoid of anything that might be offensive, challenging, or scary, has to include a huge committee's worth of feedback, be inclusive of dozens of ethnicities regardless of the subject, and be created in a non toxic, green, medium (and then coated with graffiti proof gloss varnish.)
Posted by: Lynne Rutter | 23 June 2008 at 00:49
Fascinating, Tara! Thanks so much! K.
Posted by: Karen DeGroot Carter | 22 June 2008 at 18:22
I love these murals, for they captured the essence of the place and time, and the work of the people.
I agree with Christine, who said they reminded her of Diego Rivera, who did wonderful murals of the assembly lines in Detroit (my husband has prints of these in his office).
Your photographs are marvelous!
Posted by: Becca | 22 June 2008 at 05:57
Amazing. Beautifully photographed, Tara.
Posted by: Laura Benedict | 21 June 2008 at 16:36
I'm behind (way behind) on blog visiting, but I couldn't agree more with your posts above and had to comment that these are the most magnificent images. I've seen Coit only from the outside. Next time I hit the city by the Bay, I'm going in!
Posted by: Jeanie | 20 June 2008 at 23:03
gorgeous job, darling! i love coit tower and these are some really incredible photos. xxoo, a
Posted by: studio wellspring | 20 June 2008 at 22:23
Oh, thank you so much for posting these! I'm going to spend lots of time examining and enjoying each one. Your trip must have been fantastic.
Xoxo,
Laura
Posted by: Laura | 20 June 2008 at 17:04
Thank you for posting this Tara. The Coit Tower is a landmark within my memory. I've never seen this mural before. I do see the Diego influence! Thank your for taking the time to sharing this.
It means a lot to me.
Hope you are well today!
Getting ready for a wedding! ;-)
xox
Constance
Posted by: rochambeau | 20 June 2008 at 14:20
Wow these murals are stunning. How wonderful they have been so well preserved.
My Ghost pics are my my blog love to know what you think - a much valued opinion from the Queen on photography :)
Posted by: Di Overton | 20 June 2008 at 11:58
I haven't been to Coit Tower ... yet. Thanks for sharing these paintings. They're wonderful.
Posted by: deirdre | 20 June 2008 at 03:16
Wonderful photography and narrative, Tara!
Some of those headlines and messages in the art, almost send shivers - they're eerily reminiscent (or should I say 'prescient?') of the times we're living in now...But, perhaps it's only, the more things change, the more they stay the same?
I'm glad these murals weren't censored, and have survived the years. Thank you for sharing them!
~xox
Posted by: tinker | 20 June 2008 at 01:34
beautiful photos. the murals capture such a slice of 1930s life. most inspiring.
Posted by: Octavine Illustration | 20 June 2008 at 00:28
I loved them all, the grape harvest especially.
I'll bet you miss it there already!
xox
Posted by: Gillian | 19 June 2008 at 23:51
Tara, you did such an awesome job of photographing these murals. I never had any interest at all in Coit Tower until I moved here. Now it's one of my favorite places in the city.
There is a gorgeous Diego Rivera mural in the City Club on Sansome. Have you seen it? If not, for the next trip here...
Posted by: tangobaby | 19 June 2008 at 22:56
Tara your photographs of this mural are incredible!!!
Posted by: sherry | 19 June 2008 at 21:59
Wow, I thought, these artists sure seemed to be inspired by Diego Rivera. Subject matter and approach, both. A quick check (ahh, the internet!) and it turns out Rivera painted several "significant" murals in San Francisco in 1930 -- just in time to influence these men. :)
Posted by: Christine | 19 June 2008 at 14:51