Coit Tower WPA murals - San Francisco, CA - WPA Projects on Waymarking.com

"The first WPA funded art project was actually an initiative of the CWA, which commissioned the murals that now adorn the interior of Coit Tower. The Tower had just been completed using funds bequeathed by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who asked that her gift be used to beautify the city. At the time of the WPA commission, the undecorated monument was widely held to have been a waste of public funds. The WPA project was designed to justify the existence of the building by representing inspiring visions of California's history and industry.

The project was the result of a collaboration of twenty-six Bay Area artists. The commission was to present an optimistic vision of San Francisco and its environs as industrially and agriculturally productive. The WPA envisioned the mural cycle as a boost to the public's morale.

While most of the Coit Tower murals did just that, several of the panels showed a harsher reality. The Depression had radicalized many American artists, who felt a responsibility to present a less varnished view of the national economic situation. Artist John Langley Howard depicted scenes that criticized the exploitation of the poor, showing a destitute family desperately panning for gold, while a rich family watches, amused. Other scenes showed angry workers reading socialist papers, a wealthy man being robbed at gunpoint, radical newspapers and Marxist book titles, and even a hammer and sickle as part of a series of symbols designed to represent the political and religious views of San Franciscans. The murals caused a great deal of controversy and threats of censorship, but in the end, only the hammer and sickle was removed." (visit link)

Project type: Mural/Painting Date built or created: Post 1934 Location: Coit Tower City: San Francisco Condition: Pristine condition Website for additional information: Not listed

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