The Coit Tower is another of those look-how-the-whole-city-is-just-laid-out-for-us-to-see places. But there is more to be seen than just the view of San Francisco. The murals inside the Coit Tower were created as part of the Federal Art Project under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration. While there is an admission charge and a wait to go up inside the tower, the murals are free to view inside the lobby ringing the ground floor.
As near as I can tell, the murals were painted as frescoes, that is, on wet plaster. Some of the Coit Tower murals that caught my eye:
The Federal Art Project was an economic initiative, not a cultural one, but when I look at WPA murals in different locations, I see some significant similarities in tone and, to a lesser extent, in style. I think the tone is a result of the shifts caused by the great depression, when national pride intersected with a desire to rise to prosperity again. There were far more murals than I could do justice to in the Coit Tower, and the tone of most was hopeful, industrious and proud. Stylistic overlap in WPA murals I cannot explain except for influence within the artistic community of the time. Considering artists were scattered all across the country at a time when communication was slow and ponderous, this seems noteworthy to me.
La Vida Local 