California
California by Maxine Albro, 1934.
Image courtesy of the San Francisco Arts Commission.
The painter, muralist and lithographer Maxine Albro (1903-1966) was born in Iowa, grew up in Los Angeles, then came to San Francisco to study at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). She then enrolled at the Art Students League of New York and studied in Paris. Albro was also a student of Diego Rivera in Mexico and became his assistant. She was one of many female artists who worked in the New Deal's Federal Art Project.
California, a panorama of agriculture, is the counterpoint to Stackpole’s Industries of California on the opposite side of the tower. In contrast to modern agriculture, little mechanization is evident in this mural (note the horse-drawn wagon) and the workforce is entirely European-American, excluding the many agricultural workers of Mexican and Asian descent. Crops include hay, flowers, oranges, apricots, almonds and grapes. The prolifically illustrated wine-making scene may commemorate the recent repeal of Prohibition and California’s long history of wine-making. It is hard to imagine the depths of the Great Depression while looking at this bountiful scene that drew the Dust Bowl refugees to California. Orange crates stamped with the NRA Blue Eagle are an indication that these companies accepted the National Recovery Administration’s Code of Fair Competition, allowing them to display the Blue Eagle and the motto “We Do Our Part.” The NRA’s code was struck down by the Supreme Court, but many of its labor provisions went into the National Labor Relations Act. Unfortunately, farmworkers were not covered by its protections.
California
California by Maxine Albro, 1934.
Image courtesy of the San Francisco Arts Commission.
The painter, muralist and lithographer Maxine Albro (1903-1966) was born in Iowa, grew up in Los Angeles, then came to San Francisco to study at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). She then enrolled at the Art Students League of New York and studied in Paris. Albro was also a student of Diego Rivera in Mexico and became his assistant. She was one of many female artists who worked in the New Deal's Federal Art Project.
California, a panorama of agriculture, is the counterpoint to Stackpole’s Industries of California on the opposite side of the tower. In contrast to modern agriculture, little mechanization is evident in this mural (note the horse-drawn wagon) and the workforce is entirely European-American, excluding the many agricultural workers of Mexican and Asian descent. Crops include hay, flowers, oranges, apricots, almonds and grapes. The prolifically illustrated wine-making scene may commemorate the recent repeal of Prohibition and California’s long history of wine-making. It is hard to imagine the depths of the Great Depression while looking at this bountiful scene that drew the Dust Bowl refugees to California. Orange crates stamped with the NRA Blue Eagle are an indication that these companies accepted the National Recovery Administration’s Code of Fair Competition, allowing them to display the Blue Eagle and the motto “We Do Our Part.” The NRA’s code was struck down by the Supreme Court, but many of its labor provisions went into the National Labor Relations Act. Unfortunately, farmworkers were not covered by its protections.