Coit Tower Murals

I became interested in 20th century muralism in the early 90s, while visiting Mexico to learn some Spanish and to further the Mexican interests of my Texas employer. It was probably not what they had in mind. In any case, learning that the Depression-era Coit Tower murals were done by Diego Rivera students and admirers made it an imperative for me. A few of Rivera's murals are in San Francisco--he painted here in the early 1930s--I'll have to get to them some other time.

Fast-backward to 1994: Rivera's History of Mexico at the
national palace

Ditto, Frida Kahlo home and museum, Mexico City

Fast-forward to 2013: at the entrance to Coit
Tower; the murals are all on the main and
second floors, and on the stairwell between
them; completed c. 1934 by a variety of San
Francisco artists

The murals generally depict life in California and specifically
the Bay area

Agriculture, for example...

But throughout, there is abundant social commentary, much
of it disapproved by the city fathers, some even removed
(NRA was the New Deal "National Recovery Act," one of
FDR's "excesses")

In The City now, the Daily Worker at the
newsstand

Life on the streets

Not much has changed...

In the public library, a patron at the right reaches for Das
Kapital

Workers of the world...

While some live in tents, developers show
up to survey the scene (click to enlarge and
note the difference between their dogs)

Upstairs, plans are shown to Mrs. Roosevelt 

More city scenes

And at the end of the tour, a glimpse of the elegant life