Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Pacific Bird

Posted by Cindy on July 3, 2012

Jul 032012

Golden Gateway Embarcadero/Financial District 551 Battery Street * Pacific Bird by Seymour Lipton 1961 Seymour Lipton (1903-1986) was an American abstract expressionist sculptor. He was a member of the New York School who gained widespread recognition in the 1950s. Lipton was interested in art as an adolescent. Although his high school teachers wanted Lipton to pursue art, his parents encouraged him in his decision to study electrical engineering at the Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute and later to pursue a course of study in the liberal arts at New York’s City College. After college, Lipton continued his education in the field of Continue Reading

Ian Ross – SOMA

Posted by Cindy on July 2, 2012

Jul 022012

SOMA 870 Harrison Juxtaposed with Zio Zieglers black and white mural at 870 Harrison street is this vibrant mural by Ian Ross. paints energy. In front of an audience on stage, in his lush backyard studio, or in the warehouse at Facebook HQ, his work is alive. Ross works “without the burden of intention” and reacts to each moment with bold graffiti inspired forms and colors. Ross has developed his unique style for 20 years and takes great pride in his spontaneous method. His street art style has become widely accepted and revered in a fine art realm. He Continue Reading

Lower Haight Part IV

Posted by Cindy on July 1, 2012

Jul 012012

Lower Haight Love in the Lower Haight This is the last of the new items added to Love in the Lower Haight. Artist: Dee Jae Pa’este Artist Unknown Artist Unknown

Love in The Lower Haight Part III

Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2012

Jun 302012

Lower Haight Love in the Lower Haight Continuing with our Love in the Lower Haight Series. These are murals added since the first post early in 2011. * * Artist: Saunders Hildreth * Jeremy Nova – Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds – Einstein Jeremy Nova is best known for his stenciled koi fish on the sidewalks, often on top of graffiti tags, to “beautify the area.” There are now more than 2,000 of his koi throughout the city, including commissioned ones at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Quan Yin Meditation Center, Cafe Flore Continue Reading

Benny Bufano at Fisherman’s Wharf

Posted by Cindy on June 29, 2012

Jun 292012

Fisherman’s Wharf Beach and Taylor Streets * St. Francis of Assisi by Benny Bufano Born, Beniamino Bufano, in San Fele, Italy, in 1886, he was one of sixteen children. His family immigrated to New York when he was three, and at six he began contributing to the family income by shining shoes and peddling newspapers. He dropped out of school after the third grade, but entered art school as a teenager, working there as a janitor in lieu of tuition. Later he became apprenticed with the sculptor James Frasier, while he continued to work as a janitor. In 1915, a Continue Reading

Washington Square – Fireman’s Memorial

Posted by Cindy on June 28, 2012

Jun 282012

North Beach Washington Square Firemen Memorial by Haig Patigian * To Commemorate the Volunteer Fire Department of San Francisco 1819-1866 Erected 1933 By Bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. This sculpture by Haig Patigian was erected with funds left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, an honorary member of Knickerbocker Volunteer Fire Company No. 5, and was originally meant for Coit Tower. The geodetic survey marker, dating from 1869, was placed there by Dr. George Davidson, for whom Mount Davison was named. In 1937, the latitude and longitude of Washington Square were carved onto the monument. Three firemen grouped on a circular base, are standing, Continue Reading

Lands End – Kanrin Maru Monument

Posted by Cindy on June 27, 2012

Jun 272012

Land’s End Legion of Honor * The plaque at this reads: This monument is erected to commemorate the arrival of the first Japanese Naval Ship Kanrin Maru in San Francisco on 17 March, 1860. The Kanrin Maru crossed the Pacific at the same time as the U.S.S. Powhatan which brought the first Japanese Embassy to the United States. Presented to the City of San Francisco by its sister city Osaka as a token of sincere desire to further friendship and goodwill between the United States and Japan and as part of the program to mark the centennial celebration of the opening Continue Reading

Land’s End – Great Nature

Posted by Cindy on June 26, 2012

Jun 262012

Land’s End Legion of Honor The stone reads: We are grateful, as we stand facing this monument, for the infinite gifts of heaven and earth. We recognize once again the true fundamental of the human should that pursues the truth, implements the good, creates beauty, and renews his will to step forward. This way brings about peace in mind and on earth by mutual understanding, encouragement and help. It was in this spirit that this monument was built. April 1, 1984 In recognition of the continued quest for world peace by all people. Great Nature by Bundo Shunkai This piece Continue Reading

SOMA – Mural at 870 Harrison

Posted by Cindy on June 25, 2012

Jun 252012

SOMA 870 Harrison Street * * * * Zio Ziegler is a Mill Valley, California native and a graduate of both Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. He has a clothing line Arte Sempre.

Financial District- Fire Station #13

Posted by Cindy on June 23, 2012

Jun 232012

Fire Station #13 Financial District 530 Sansome Street * Untitled by Henri Marie-Rose 1969 Henri Marie-Rose (1922-2010) born in François, Martinique, the son of Appien Constance Raymonde and Quentin Joseph Marie-Rose Dite Cétoute, Henri Marie-Rose Dite Cétoute, who later simply went by Henri Marie-Rose, was a San Francisco resident for 58 years, living initially in North Beach before settling on Potrero Hill. He attended the École des Arts et Métiers and the École des Arts Appliqués in Martinique. He had three one man shows in 1940, 1942 and 1943 and was appointed Attaché Culturel au Projet d’Urbanisme, Shortly thereafter, he Continue Reading

Western Addition – Athletics at Hamilton Rec Center

Posted by Cindy on June 22, 2012

Jun 222012

Western Addition - Athletics at Hamilton Rec Center

Western Addition Steiner and Post Streets Hamilton Rec Center Athletics by Mary Erkenbrack – Ceramic Tile 1955 This glazed ceramic tile mural is of male figures engaged in athletic activities. This tile mural sits between two painted murals names Blues Evolution I and Blues Evolution II . This tile mural has been on the walls of the rec center since it opened. Mary Erkenbrack was born in Seattle, Washington on Nov. 30, 1910, Erckenbrack was raised in Rio De Janeiro, London, and Paris as her father, a shipping commissioner, moved about. While in France she studied art in Le Havre Continue Reading

Western Addition – Northern Police Station

Posted by Cindy on June 21, 2012

Jun 212012

Western Addition - Northern Police Station

Western Addition Turk and Fillmore Streets Northern Police Station * * * This cast concrete panel by Horace Washington depicts the cultural diversity of the Western Addition and its architectural history. The panel also features the likeness of police officers of the past. The piece is part of the San Francisco Arts Commission collection and was produced in 1987. It is 3 feet high by 8 feet long. Horace Washington (who has work on the 3rd Street Light Rail project) studied at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio before moving to California to study sculpture at the San Continue Reading

SOMA – Few and Far

Posted by Cindy on June 20, 2012

Jun 202012

SOMA/The Mission 69 Duboce Between Valencia and Mission Few and Far – Part III * The last of this three part post from Few and Far is by Amanda Lynn. Amandalynn, whos pieces are all over town, takes her expertise in art and painting into an array of applications. She studied at the Academy of Art in San Francisco and received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art with an Illustration major.

SOMA – Few and Far

Posted by Cindy on June 19, 2012

Jun 192012

SOMA/The Mission 69 Duboce Between Valencia and Mission Continuing with the Few N Far Crews work at 69 Duboce. Meagan Spendlove – Meagan has murals all over town. Agana is from Oakland. From Few and Far’s Website: Agana is not only a bad ass DJ but she is an art teacher, muralist, jewelry maker, loving/giving friend, always down to paint no matter what!! Agana also films and edits her own videos.. Oooh yes, don’t let me forget to mention… she always has her nails on point every time! Tatiana Suarez is from Miami and New York. According to Tati’s website: Tatiana Continue Reading

SOMA – Few and Far

Posted by Cindy on June 18, 2012

Jun 182012

SOMA/The Mission 69 Duboce Between Valencia and Mission This is an empty lot that was taken over (with permission) by Few and Far. Few and Far is a woman’s street art group and this is what they say about themselves on their blog: Few and Far is a movement that brings together talented women who are involved in graffiti, Skateboarding and street art from all over the world. Few and Far connects women by creating social and artistic exchange, by showcasing art on the streets, on walls and in other high profile venues. Few and Far fosters and celebrates the Continue Reading

Mission District – Carnaval

Posted by Cindy on June 17, 2012

Jun 172012

Mission District 18th and Harrison P.G.& E. Service Yard * * * * * * * Carnaval by Joshua Sarantitis – 1995 33 X 100 feet Joshua, a Minnesota resident, is a truly prolific muralist. Joshua Sarantitis has been creating monumental professional work in public spaces for over 20 years. His 40 commissioned works include glass installations and mosaic murals located regionally and abroad including San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Tucson. His ability to collaborate successfully with design professionals, arts administrators and community is rooted in a desire to find common language between our everyday lives Continue Reading

Marina Green – William C. Ralston Memorial

Posted by Cindy on June 16, 2012

Jun 162012

Marina Green - William C. Ralston Memorial

The Marina Green Near the end of Fillmore Street * * * Memorial to William C. Ralston by Haig Patigian 1941 William C. Ralston made his fortune in Nevada’s Silver Comstock Lode. He was one of the richest and most powerful men in California, founding the Bank of California and building the Palace Hotel. In 1875, after a combination of the expense of building the Hotel, his attempt to buy and resell the Spring Valley Water Company and the effects of the Panic of 1873, which crashed the stock value of his Bank, his body was found in the Bay. Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 15, 2012

Jun 152012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * * * This pair of canvas’ are also in the elevator alcove. The depict the farmlands of the Santa Clara Valley and the hills of the East Bay. The artists was Rinaldo Cuneo. (1877-1939). Cuneo was a native San Franciscan from North Beach where he maintained a studio. He was educated at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute as well as in Paris and London. He taught at the California School of Fine Arts and was a prolific painter. This is the last in a series of the murals of Coit Tower. There are Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 14, 2012

Jun 142012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * This is the second of the murals in the elevator alcove, It is titled San Francisco Bay, North and is by Jose Moya Del Pino (1869-1969). The two young men represent Moya del Pino himself watching as fellow artist Otis Oldfield sketches what he sees below him. If one looks closely you can see the former prison on the island of Alcatraz. This too is oil on canvas. Jose Moya del Pino was born in Priego, Spain. By 1907, Moya was studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, and associated with Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 13, 2012

Jun 132012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * In the alcove, where visitors wait for the elevator are four more murals. This one is titled San Francisco Bay. This is an oil on canvas, and was painted in the artists studio. The two little girls are the artists, Otis Oldfield’s, daughters, Rhoda and Jayne. as they look down on the waterfront from their father’s Telegraph Hill studio. The larger island they are peering at is Yerba Buena Island. That is the island that the present day San Francisco Bay Bridge goes through. Treasure Island, which would have been attached on the Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 12, 2012

Jun 122012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals News Gathering by Suzanne Scheuer Scheuer worked with assistant Heve Daum on news gathering for her panel in Coit Tower. Suzanne Scheuer was born in San Jose, California on February 11, 1898. She moved to San Francisco in 1918. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts and the California College of Arts and Crafts. She then taught for three years in the public schools of Los Banos and Salinas. In 1940 she joined the art faculty at the College of the Pacific in Stockton and taught there for ten years. She then Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 11, 2012

Jun 112012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals The Library by Bernard B. Zakheim The Coit Tower murals were painted during a particularly disruptive period in U.S. History. Depression related economic challenges led to much discussion about alternate forms of government. A four day general strike (Bloody Thursday) accompanied by widespread rioting in San Francisco triggered an eighty-three day 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike. Coit Tower muralists protested and picketed at the tower when Rivera’s mural commissioned for Rockefeller Center in New York City was destroyed after he refused to change an image of Lenin in the painting. The opening of Coit Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2012

Jun 102012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * Stockbroker and Scientist by Mallete (Harold) Dean Their are six figures that stand alone in the Tower. (You can review the first four here). The stockbroker/banker is thought to be A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy that later became Bank of America. The Scientist is Nobel Prize winner, Albert Abraham Michelson. He holds an interferometer and a scroll and stands near a picture of the James Lick Observatory which is on Mount Hamilton in San Jose, California. Notice how the door of the observatory is a light switch. * Mallete Dean Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 9, 2012

Jun 092012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals The Meat Industry by Raymond Bertrand * Notice the clever use of the window Raymond Bertrand (1901-1986) was a native San Franciscan. He studied at the California School of Fine Arts where he later taught Lithography. Bertrand was primarily a landscape panter, a critic once commented that Bertrand used “freezing blues, whites and greys” in his oil in a “small but icy collection of arctic landscapes”. His name is used as the “author” of the book titled Rape, Mayhem and Vagrancy in the law library scene at Coit Tower.

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 8, 2012

Jun 082012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * ( * Industries of California by Ralph Stackpole This is a vast expression of the industries of California at the time. Stackpole painted several fellow artists in this mural as well. Tom Lehman, a local artist, pours chemicals into a container while William Hesthal bends over a table, notebook in hand. Helen Clement Mills is one of the women working on an assembly line. * * Ralph Ward Stackpole (1885-1973) Stackpole grew up in Oregon. He worked with scepter Arthur Putnam and painter Gottardo Piazzoni and the went to Paris to study at Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 7, 2012

Jun 072012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals Department Store by Frede Vidar This mural depicts the interior of a typical 1930’s department store with soda fountain and wine shop. Some items of interest are the fact that the waitress wears a cap with a Star of Dave, (which is surprising as Frede Vidar frequently expressed pro-Nazi sympathies and even scratched a swastika on a windowpane when he worked on the project) and the fact that one of the clerks is holding a box with the SS logo on it. Notice the Bing Crosby music in the background as well as Roman Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 6, 2012

Jun 062012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * Cowboy and Farmer by Clifford Wight These are four of six single standing figures in the collection. They represent the very essence of California. The Will Rogers Style cowboy (that many friends of Wight said was a self portrait) and the farmer, that looks an awful lot like artist Ralph Stackpole. * These two are Surveyor and Ironworker. There are three windows between these two figures. Over the central window Wight painted a bridge, which had the NRA Eagle in the center. Over the right hand window he stretched a segment of chain, Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 5, 2012

Jun 052012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * * * * 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. * * * 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 Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 4, 2012

Jun 042012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * * California Industrial Scenes by John Langley Howard This mural gives us several juxtaposed scenes indicative of any society, but especially poignant during such difficult times. There are the solemn workers of the May Day demonstration, a woman doing laundry on the rocks, and an elderly woman sawing logs by hand, while the great symbols of hydroelectric power are there in her sight. There is a migrant family with their broken down Model-T next to a group of observers with chauffeur and furs. Notice the hobo on the train trestle, and the worker Continue Reading

Telegraph Hill – Coit Tower Murals

Posted by Cindy on June 3, 2012

Jun 032012

Telegraph Hill Coit Tower WPA Murals * The California Agriculture Industry by Gordon Langdon The dairy business is represented in this mural as well as several of the artists friends. Gordon Langdon was assisted by Helen Clement Mills on this mural. Fellow artist Fred Olmsted and his assistant Tom Hayes Fellow artist John Langley Howard holding a pitchfork * Fellow artist Lucien Labaudt showering a cow Gordon Langdon did not stay long on the Coit Tower project. His friends remembered him as a “handsome young man”. His other murals in San Francisco include Modern and Ancient Science over the main Continue Reading

Older Entries Newer Entries