Records from the Great Depression
Cath Madden Trindle
WPA - Murals
The WPA might have
shut down in 1943, but some projects took years more to complete. Among those
is San Francisco’s last WPA project, the Rincon Annex Post Office. The
building’s architect was Gilbert S. Underwood (Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite). The
design with hints of classic Greece and Moorish Spain is termed “art-deco
moderne”.
With the building
complete, the W.P.A. held a competition for a mural in 1941. The winner
was Anton Refregier, a Russian emigrant to the United
States.
His work, entitled,
“History of San Francisco” was begun that year. Comprised of 27 panels painted
with casein tempuro on white gesso over plaster the work covered 400 square
feet of wall space. Work was soon interrupted by WWII. And it wasn’t until 1946
that Refregier resumed painting. The mural finished in 1948, cost $26,000
and was the largest single commission of the Painting and Sculpture division
for the WPA.
It is an impressive
work. It is even more impressive when one learns of the controversy that
ensued. Refregier designed and painted the entire history, but along came the
revisionists. This painting showed the Padres in a bad light, the hanging man
was a little too dark, the workers on the railroad a little too chinese, Sir
Francis Drake had blood on his sword, there was too much red which might
support communism. Refregier fought to keep what he could, but in the end made
92 changes to the murals before they were finally finished in 1949, possibly the
last WPA project to be completed. You can read about the controversy in
individual panels of the mural on Art and Architecture – San
Francisco: The Embarcardo – Rincon Annex Murals.
But the story wasn’t
over. On 1 May 1953, the House Committee on Public Works, fueled by the fears
of the “McCarthy Era” began debate on a resolution by Rep. Hubert Scudder
(R-Sebastopol) to destroy the murals as they slandered California pioneers and
pushed Communist propaganda upon unwitting postal customers. The
resolution was waylaid, but not before the California Senate passed a
resolution supporting Scudder’s resolution. Rob Spoor elaborates on the
trial in Art (and History) on Trial:
Historic Murals of Rincon Center – Rob Spoor Guidelines
In 1978 the Rincon
Annex Post Office was closed. The city, hoping to avoid destruction of
the murals, had the building placed under the protection of the National
Registry of Historic Places in 1979. Today it is the entrance to
the Rincon Center, offering a delightful mix of old and new
architecture and art.
While you can
definitely check this building out on your own, you might want to consider
taking a tour. City Guides offers many free tours in San Francisco
including the waterfribt area. The tour I took was sponsored by the Commonwealth Club and led by historian Rick Evans.
I am sure there are others. Getting out and walking around is a
great way to see any city.
Rincon Annex isn’t the
only WPA Post Office. In fact, during the years of the New
Deal, the federal government built over 1,100 post offices, three
times the number that it had built in the previous 50 years. Many were
PWA projects that not only provided work for the unemployed, but strove
to ensure “public works of an ensuring character and lasting benefits.”
Many of these post offices included murals.
Read more…….
§ And many many more. Use your search
engine and add a specific place you might be interested in!
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