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Victor Michail Arnautoff
Street Scene WPA American Scene Mid-20th Century Modern Coin Tower California SF

c. 1930s

About the Item

Street Scene WPA American Scene Mid-20th Century Modern Coin Tower California SF Victor Arnautofff (1896 – 1979) City Street 12 x 14 inches Oil on board, c. 1930s Signed lower left BIO Born in the Ukraine of Russia, Victor Arnautoff became one of the most influential muralists in San Francisco in the 1930s and worked for the Federal Arts Project, WPA, in the expressive, social protest-style of Diego Rivera. He was also a painter, lithographer, sculptor, and respected teacher, and the subjects of his art work ranged from portraits, still lifes, and landscapes early in his career to more socially conscious themes later. He arrived in San Francisco in 1925, having travelled through China and Mexico. He enrolled in the California School of Fine Arts where he studied sculpture with Ralph Stackpole and painting with Edgar Walters. He returned to China for his wife and children, and returned to California via Mexico City where he studied with Rivera from 1929 to 1931. The family then settled in San Francisco, and he taught at the California School of Fine Arts and from 1939 to 1963, was professor of art at Stanford University. Following the death of his wife, he returned to Russia where he continued his career as a painter and also as a mosaic muralist. His murals can be seen at Coit Tower, George Washington High School, and the Presidio in San Francisco and in post offices in Richmond, South San Francisco, and Pacific Grove.
  • Creator:
    Victor Michail Arnautoff (1896 - 1979, American)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1930s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 18 in (45.72 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1156213040902

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Industrial Mural Study, Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Barbara WPA American Joseph Edward Knowles (1907-1980) "Study for Industry Mural, Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Barbara, CA" 19 1/2 x 50 1/2 inches Oil on board, c. 1930s. Estate stamp verso Framed: 27 x 60 inches The completed mural is currently hanging on the wall, part of the building actually, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Barbara. A photo of the work insitu is included in the attached photos. BIO Joseph Edward Knowles was born in Kendall, Montana, on June 15, 1907. He grew up in San Diego, California. At age twenty, two years before the beginning of the Great Depression, he moved north to another town on the coast of California---Santa Barbara. There he began studying fine art at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts* (1927-1930), under the supervision of Frank Morley Fletcher, previously director of the Edinburgh College of Art. 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