Maritime Museum
Aquatic Park
The interior of the museum is painted with a large mural by Hilaire Hiler, These murals depict the mythic continents of Atlantis and Mu.
Many know the story of Atlantis, but Mu is not as well known. Mu is the name of a suggested lost continent whose concept and the name were proposed by 19th-century early Mayanist, archaeologist, photographer, traveler and writer, Augustus Le Plongeon Le Plongeon claimed that several ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and Mesoamerica, were created by refugees from Mu—which he located in the Atlantic Ocean. This concept was popularized and expanded by James Churchward, who asserted that Mu was once located in the Pacific
Hilaire Hiler was born in St Paul, Minnesota on July 16, 1898. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania; University of Denver; Golden State University, Los Angeles; and the Nat’l College, Ontario, Canada. Sailing to France in 1919, he continued at the University of Paris while playing saxophone in a jazz band. During the 1920s he ran the Jockey Club (an artists’ hangout) on the Left Bank. At the club he often played jazz piano with a live monkey on his back.
Upon moving to San Francisco in the 1930s, he was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration to paint these murals in the Maritime Museum. He contributed illustrated maps for the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939 and exhibited at the fair.
From San Francisco he moved south to Hollywood where he opened a short-lived nightclub on the Sunset Strip. He then lived in Santa Fe (New Mexico), New York City, and in the early 1960s returned to Paris where he remained until his death on January 19, 1966.
Hiler was a Modernist. He helped found the idea of ‘Structuralism’ which aims to create harmony by the presentation of organized color and form. Structuralism design is made for contemplation.
Hiler’s works are in many museums including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of New Mexico, Oakland Museum of California, Portland Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and Georgia Museum of Art. His work is in numerous private collections in the United States and abroad.
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I found this when pursuing the Hiler papers in the Archives of American Art. I thought it to much fun not to share.
This was drawn up around 1965.
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