SFMOMA: Diego Rivera: Pan American Unity

Pan American Unity:

A Mural by Diego Rivera

June 28, 2021 – Summer 2023
Roberts Family Gallery, Floor 1 

The fresco "Pan American Unity," by famous Mexican painter and muralist Diego Rivera (1886 – 1957) was created for the Art in Action exhibition of the 1939 San Francisco World’s Fair. The mural, along with works from many other artists, was painted during the fair while the public watched.

This fresco is owned by City College of San Francisco (CCSF) but has been moved to SFMOMA for a two-year period for restoration and display.

Wikipedia page for Pan American Unity
City College of San Francisco's page for Pan American Unity
"Diego Rivera’s The Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on This Continent, more commonly known as Pan American Unity, is a mural he created in 1940 at the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) on San Francisco’s Treasure Island."
SFMOMA's page for Pan American Unity
"Working on a scaffold in an airplane hangar before a live audience, Rivera painted The Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on This Continent, commonly known as Pan American Unity, his last mural in the U.S. The fresco depicts in colorful detail a past, present, and future that the artist believed were shared across North America, calling for cultural solidarity and exchange during a time of global conflict."
Diego Rivera: Moving a Masterpiece
YouTube Video, NBC Bay Area
Sep 13, 2021
"Diego Rivera’s treasured Pan American Unity mural is massive. Together, all 10 panels measure 22 feet high by 74 feet wide and weigh over 60,000 pounds. Moving it from City College of San Francisco to SFMOMA was a giant project that brought together a team of experts and took years of planning. In the spring of 2021, over several weekends in the middle of the night, the team carryout its precarious mission to move the monumental mural across the city. In this video, we explore the mural and the incredible journey to get it to a public space. (This video was sponsored by SFMOMA)"

Photos of Pan American Unity at SFMOMA

Photos by Prof. Denise Erickson, at SFMOMA

SFMOMA: Twin Walls Mural Company: Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Twin Walls Mural Company:

Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Bay Area Walls commission
October 3, 2020–October 23, 2022
Floor 5

Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams
"Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams is a mural by Elaine Chu and Marina Perez-Wong, also known as Twin Walls Mural Company (TWMC). In this work, the artists deploy themes of healing and resiliency in response to imbalances stemming from COVID-19, generational trauma, pollution, and inequality, as well as to Perez-Wong’s ongoing battle with stage IV breast cancer."
Video: Twin Walls Mural Company: Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams
"Elaine Chu and Marina Perez-Wong—together known as Twin Walls Mural Company—offer a behind-the-scenes look at their latest work Our Ancestor’s Wildest Dreams, commissioned by SFMOMA. The San Francisco–based artists discuss their process and how this vibrant mural manifests healing and resiliency in the face of trauma, injustice, and oppression."
Twin Walls Mural Company Talks Symbolism, Healing, and Resilience
"Artists Elaine Chu and Marina Perez-Wong (together known as Twin Walls Mural Company) join SFMOMA curators Erin O’Toole and Eungie Joo for a live conversation about their commission Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams, as well as past work they have created in various locations in San Francisco."

Photos of Our Ancestor's Wildest Dreams

Photos by Prof. Denise Erickson, at SFMOMA

Coit Tower

Photo courtesy of Ronan Furuta

March 29, 2019

Published on Unsplash

Photo Courtsey of m.john16

Published on Unsplash

Coit Tower's Homepage
"The murals inside the tower’s base were painted in 1934 by a group of artists employed by the Public Works of Art Project, a precursor to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and depict life in California during the Depression."
Artists Behind Coit Tower Murals Deserve Praise
Apr. 29, 2014
SF Examiner
". . . four women and 21 men who worked efficiently and cooperatively in the first six months of 1934 to cover 3,691 square feet of the interior walls of Coit Tower with the first public works of art funded under the New Deal."
The Women Who Painted Coit Tower
Dec. 6, 2017
The Living New Deal
"At a time when men got nearly all such work, Maxine Albro, Suzanne Scheuer, Edith Hamlin, and Jane Berlandina were among twenty-five artists selected to paint the interior of the newly built Coit Tower, where twenty-seven murals covering 3,691 square feet of wall space took form from 1933-1934 . . . "
Restoration of Coit Tower Murals: SF’s Monument to the Fresco
Jean Shiffman
Dec 19, 2018
SF Travel

Photo Courtesy of SF Park and Rec's Coit Tower page

Photo Courtesy of Ed Bierman

Published on Unsplash

Victor Arnautoff Murals at George Washington High School

These High School Murals Depict an Ugly History. Should They Go?
Carol Pogash
April 11, 2019
The New York Times
A School's Mural Removal: Should Kids be Shielded from Brutal US History?
Walter Thompson
May 20, 2019
The Guardian
San Francisco School Will Cover Controversial George Washington Murals
more... less...

Derrick Bryson Taylor
June 28, 2019
New York Times
The Case for Keeping San Francisco’s Disputed George Washington Murals
Roberta Smith
July 26, 2019
New York Times
In a Reversal, the San Francisco School Board Has Voted to Cover, Not Destroy, a Series of Controversial High School Murals
Taylor Dafoe
August 14, 2019
Artnet
In San Francisco, a Panel Defends Controversial WPA Mural at George Washington High School
Emily Wilson
February 24, 2020
Hyperallergic
S.F. School Mural Controversy: Judge Rules Against District move to Cover Historic Washington High Artwork
Jill Tucker
July 28, 2021
San Francisco Chronicle
The Radical History Of The Murals At George Washington High School
Ariella Markowitz
August 2, 2021
KALW
"Last week, there was a new development in a years-long debate about what to do with a controversial mural at San Francisco's public high school George Washington High. The board is required to leave it as is, after a California Superior Court ruled that they failed to follow environmental impact regulations."

The Mission Dolores Mural

"The Mission Dolores Mural": Bringing San Francisco's Oldest Mural to Light
In this presentation, artist, historian, and storyteller Ben Wood presents his work on the rediscovery and invaluable history of the Mission Dolores Mural. Mission San Francisco de Asis (Mission Dolores) is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and hidden behind the great altar in the old mission church is a mural painted by Ohlone artists in 1791. This sacred artwork dates to the early years when the Spanish colonized indigenous California. Ben Wood and Eric Blind rediscovered and digitally documented the mural in 2004 and in 2011 their digital documentation was transformed into a physical public mural in the heart of the Mission District.

See YouTube Video of presentation in separate link below.
YouTube Video: The Mission Dolores Mural: Bringing San Francisco's Oldest Mural to Light
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Streamed live on Oct 13, 2021

"In this presentation, artist, historian, and storyteller Ben Wood presents his work on the rediscovery and history of the “Mission Dolores Mural. Mission San Francisco de Asis” (Mission Dolores) is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and is hidden behind the great altar in the old mission church is a mural painted by Ohlone Indians in 1791."
Centuries-Old Murals Revealed in Mission Dolores / Indians' Hidden Paintings Open Window Into S.F.'s Sacred Past
Carl Nolte
Jan. 29, 2004
SF Chronicle
The Hidden Mural at Mission Dolores: Historical Essay
Ben Wood
FoundSF

Murals and Street Art: Historic Murals in San Francisco

Murals of Coit Tower

SFMOMA: Diego Rivera: Pan American Unity

Pan American Unity:

A Mural by Diego Rivera

June 28, 2021 – Summer 2023
Roberts Family Gallery, Floor 1

Photos of Pan American Unity at SFMOMA

SFMOMA: Twin Walls Mural Company: Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Twin Walls Mural Company:

Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Bay Area Walls commission
October 3, 2020–October 23, 2022
Floor 5

Photos of Our Ancestor's Wildest Dreams

Coit Tower

Victor Arnautoff Murals at George Washington High School

The Mission Dolores Mural

Murals and Street Art: Historic Murals in San Francisco

Murals of Coit Tower

SFMOMA: Diego Rivera: Pan American Unity

Pan American Unity:

A Mural by Diego Rivera

June 28, 2021 – Summer 2023 Roberts Family Gallery, Floor 1

Photos of Pan American Unity at SFMOMA

SFMOMA: Twin Walls Mural Company: Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Twin Walls Mural Company:

Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Bay Area Walls commission October 3, 2020–October 23, 2022 Floor 5

Photos of Our Ancestor's Wildest Dreams

Coit Tower

Victor Arnautoff Murals at George Washington High School

The Mission Dolores Mural

June 28, 2021 – Summer 2023
Roberts Family Gallery, Floor 1 

Bay Area Walls commission
October 3, 2020–October 23, 2022
Floor 5