This Week’s Art and Architecture Adventures
A rainy day museum visit, a moderne municipal building, a freeway photo-op and mural spotting - all highlights from this week!
Norton Simon Museum
We had a rare rainy day on Monday so I thought a museum visit would be the perfect indoor outing. Others had the same idea!
Outside, the rain-slicked reddish-brown tiled exterior stood out against the gray of the sky as did the fall colored plantings in the sculpture garden landscape.
I headed to the lower gallery to walk through Expressive Body: Memory, Devotion, Desire (1400-1750) which examines the ways in which the human form has provoked powerful responses, from the physiological to the mystical. The exhibit runs through March 7, 2022.
An image in the gallery below that made an impression on me is a work by Dutch painter Cornelis Bisschop - “Bathsheba”, c. early 1660s.
Do stop by the Unseen Picasso print exhibit on the ground level if you haven’t yet seen it. Related blog post at this LINK.
Burbank Water and Power
I regularly have an appointment in Burbank and this week decided to stop at the Burbank Water and Power (BWP) headquarters on Magnolia afterwards to retake photos of the building. I also wanted to see if I could view the interior.
This Late Moderne gem by architect Daniel A. Elliott thwas constructed in 1949. The main two-story administration building displays simple horizontal lines with a wide band of windows on the second floor. The main entrance is vertical in orientation, with a dramatic double-height glass wall fronted by a concrete canopy with four simple yet monumental supports. A wonderful Art Moderne-style frieze depicting Water, Light, and Power floats above the supports.
Today, BWP's campus buildings are all LEED Platinum Certified, the highest rating from the US Green Building council
The restored interior is impressive. Overlooking the lobby is the famous “Water, Power and Light” mural painted by Hugo Ballin in 1948. Mr. Ballin, one of the nation’s foremost muralists, considered the BWP mural one of his outstanding achievements
A walk on the campus along N Lake St. allowed me to view the entry to the solar carport. The steel solar panel supports stretching from the arches resemble airplane wings to pay tribute to Burbank's rich history in aviation. More at this LINK.
Sunkist Growers Headquarters (former)
There was a whirlwind overnight in Santa Barbara this week. On the return trip home, a brutalist photo-op presented itself. As seen from the 101 Freeway, the image below is of the former Sunkist Growers Headquarters Building. A.C. Martin & Associates completed it in 1969. It may seem a little “lighter” than typical brutalist architecture, perhaps due to its color and the slight taper.
Developer IMT Residential, who now owns the buiding, has started clearing away the surrounding asphalt parking lots setting the stage for the construction of a mixed-use project called Citrus Commons.
Millard Sheets Mural
Yesterday I ran to Pasadena City College (PCC) to view the Millard Sheets mural which I read had been gifted to the City of Pasadena in 2011 and installed in Pasadena City College gymnasium in 2014. Due to the shutdown, I wasn’t able to view it till campus recently reopened.
The mural was originally painted in 1963 and installed in the Home Savings and Loan Bank at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Lake Avenue. It consists of 20 oil painted panels on walnut veneer that reveal a historical narrative of the first Tournament of Rose Parade in Pasadena.
When the Home Savings and Loan Bank became a Chase Bank in 2009, the mural was taken down and the city moved quickly to secure ownership. It was conserved by the artist’s son thru the city’s Arts & Culture Commission.
As a fan of Millard Sheets’ work, I have been visiting many of the tile mosaics, mainly those located at former Home Savings and Loan Banks. This mural at PCC was the first relocated, restored and reinstalled one that I’ve seen. See this LINK for a related blog post on Millard Sheets Studio and murals in Claremont.
