Beach Chalet Murals Part III

 Posted by on July 6, 2012
Jul 062012
 
Land’s End
The Beach Chalet – Part III
1000 The Great Highway

Lucien Labaudt’s Beach Chalet murals: John McLaren (G.G. Park Superintendent) in left foreground on bench, with Jack Spring (later General Manager of Parks and Rec Dept.) holding redwood tree’s root ball, while behind on horseback (upper right corner) sit sculptor Benny Bufano and Joseph Danysh, then head of California Federal Art Project.

*
Labaudt, following the precedent set by many of his era’s fellow artists to include other artists, depicts here Gottardo Piazzoni, a Swiss-Italian muralist who worked in San Francisco during the first two decades of the 20th century.

There are a few monochrome murals under the stairway they are also by Labaudt.

Beach Chalet Murals – Part II

 Posted by on July 5, 2012
Jul 052012
 
Land’s End
The Beach Chalet Part II
1000 The Great Highway
*
*

It was common for WPA muralists to place people they knew or people of note in their work.  Here Lucien Labaudt inserts Arthur Brown Jr.. Brown was the Architect of City Hall (shown over his left shoulder) and architect of Coit Tower, where Labaudt worked as well.

A few scenes from around San Francisco including Japantown.

Beach Chalet Murals

 Posted by on July 4, 2012
Jul 042012
 
Land’s End
The Beach Chalet – Part I
1000 Great Highway

The Beach Chalet has its own fascinating history. This is however, about the WPA work found at the Beach Chalet.

 

 Port Scene by Lucien Labaut -Beach Chalet Murals
Fisherman’s Wharf
A peaceful beach scene that incorporates some of Labaudt’s friends and family.

 

All the murals in the Beach Chalet were done by one artist, Lucien Labaudt. Born in France, he came to the United States in the early 1900s. He was an accomplished dress designer to the rich and famous of San Francisco High Society. He is responsible for decorating the curved walls in Coit Tower with frescoes (these frescoes are not available for public viewing). In 1936 he painted Advancement of Learning throughout the Printing Press, a fresco at George Washington High School. When asked about the limitations WPA art often came under he wrote “limitation forces one to think and therefore to create…Far from destroying the artist’s individuality, these limitations give him something to fight for. He must solve a problem. ” Labaudt died in a plane crash over Burma in 1943, on assignment to do war sketches for Life Magazine.

“San Francisco Life” is the title of the frescoes covering three walls of the first floor of the Beach Chalet. The mural depicts four San Francisco tourist locales: the beach, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Marina. Recognizable figures of the time from the arts and politics are shown in the mural scenes, engaging in leisure activities. Since Labaudt painted the mural in 1936-37, during the Great Depression, such leisure would have actually been out of reach for most people. Showing high-profile figures, including WPA administrators, enjoying their leisure time, was most probably a political comment on the inequalities of the times.

error: Content is protected !!