Jun 052012
Telegraph Hill
Coit Tower
WPA Murals
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City Life by Victor Arnautoff is one of the largest murals in Coit Tower. It is a wonderfully vibrant street scene taking artistic license with the various city landmarks and their geographic positions.
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Some things of note, the fire engine is Number 5, which was Lillie Hitchcock Coit’s beloved Knickerbocker Volunteer Fire Department. Newspapers that include New Masses, Daily Worker, Time, Argonaut and Screenplay, with Mae West on the front. The San Francisco Chronicle is noticeably absent, causing quite a stir at the time in the local press. The artist is in the mural, near the newspaper stand wearing a fur-collared coat. Charlie Chaplin sits in the center of a sign announcing his new movie City Lights. The “Auto Ferry to Oakland” is interesting in that the Bay Bridge would be built just a few years later in 1936.
Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (1896-1979) came to San Francisco via Mexico where he too worked as an assistant to Diego Rivera. He attended the California School of Fine Arts, studying with Ralph Stackpole, fellow artist. He returned to his native Russia in the 1960s. Other works of his include frescoes in the Military Chapel at the Presidio and three lunettes in the Anne Bremer Library at the San Francisco Art Institute. He taught in the art department of Stanford University.
This is another terrific piece! I do see some Rivera influence. I couldn’t help but smile seeing the businessman being robbed with such flair!
I had forgotten how many murals there were at Coit Tower! I love getting a chance here to see some little details.
Diego Rivera comes to my mind everytime I see these fantastic murals.
I really like this one!
This is a great mural! SO much history represented. 🙂
I didn’t know (or remember)that Oakland was mentioned in the Coit Tower murals. Makes me smile.