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 left hand side of Yerba Buena, had not yet been built. Treasure Island was built (from fill dredged from the bay) for the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-1940.
Otis Oldfield was born in Sacramento in 1890. He came to San Francisco to enroll in Arthur Best’s private art school. In 1911, he went to Paris, where he stayed for sixteen years. In 1924, he began teaching at the California School of Fine Arts. He died in 1969.
I love how the artist included friends and family in their murals!
Very sweet and I like. It seems I remember that kind of painting from my youth…yes?
Are you going to the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club this week? Big doings there. Tiger is playing and a 14 year-old Chinese amateur. Along with all the other golfing stars! I’ll be watching on TV.
I can’t believe Coit Tower has so many works of art. This is lovely. Those two little girls peering out at the bay are classic!
Sweet! I love that he included his girls:)
My nephew is working audio at the U.S. Open this week…
Interesting to see the ferry traffic between SF and the Berkeley Key Line pier. It had never occurred to me that Treasure Island blocked the direct route to that transit point.
How fascinating it would’ve been to stare out into SF Bay and not see the Bay Bridge.
What a fine painting. The detail is fabulouis!