Enter the lobby to see twenty seven Anton Refregier murals that unflinchingly depict the bloody and violent history of California.
This WPA project created between 1941 and 1948 was, at the time, one of the most expensive artworks ever commissioned by the Federal Government.
Refregier, despite being an emigre from the Soviet Union, sympathized with the Socialist leanings of Diego Rivera, who visited San Francisco in the 1930s. Refregier's aim was to paint the past as part of the living trauma-infused present. It came out as a series of battles, victories, and losses. Controversy began before the murals were even finished. First the Catholic Church thought Fray Serra was too fat, then the Truman administration felt president Roosevelt was too visible. Veterans of Foreign Wars protested a depiction of the strike and threatened violence. Native Sons of the Golden West thought there was too much Marxism. Fortunately, union members picketed to protect the murals, allowing us to see them today.
As far as I can tell Refregier's depiction of our history is accurate, if dark. It's a matter of viewpoint. For instance, he painted an anti-Chinese pogrom and not America's first Red Egg feast held for a girl. Both happened in San Francisco's Chinatown. Both are part of history. One of the great things about America is that we get to learn about both.
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