Art in San Francisco (circa 1942, sound)

[Music] la [Music] l [Music] throughout the centuries there have been cities that fascinated the human mind and inspired its creative impulses cities that had a flavor all their own attracting painters and Poets storytellers and musicians and nourishing their imaginations San Francisco is such a city began as a Spanish mission and Military settlement in 177 6 it became a Seaport City almost overnight when gold was discovered in the Sierra Hills in 1848 as the city grew it retained and enriched its World Born Traditions of Tolerance hospitality and good living with its Wars and Hills its people from many lands and its notable sophistication it has held unceasing Fascination for those to whom at Great City well may be a lively many-sided place of Happy adventure of beauty and and of inspiration have you ever experienced the astounding sight of San Francisco's cable cars elsewhere means of transportation or praic utilities but then San Francisco is different its scenes and activities constantly reveal the unusual the quaint and the Beautiful no wonder that artists from all parts of the world have come to live and work in San Francisco many of them live on Telegraph Hill they're colorful houses and flats perched like goats on the steep sides of the Hill above the [Music] Waterfront this smiling Chinese worked as a house boy and a cook only a few years ago now he is considered one of the finest watercolorists in America together with another painter a young American of Greek descent he walked down the hill to find a place suitable for sketching the bay with its silvery span and ships from all the Seas has always offered an exciting challenge to San Francisco painters dong attended art school at night and to what he learned of Western technique he added the secrets of brush drawing as they've been handed down among the Chinese through many [Music] centuries the talents of many of the local artists have been employed to enrich the city with sculpture and wall decorations here at San Francisco's new Junior College a young painter and sculptor is finishing his mural for the school's foyer before the entrance to this modern functional school he has already completed two huge heads in limstone the American inventor Thomas Edison and the genius of the Renaissance Leonardo D venci San Francisco city Administration openm and art conscious has encouraged and sponsored many art projects throughout the city at Aquatic Park people Marvel at the 5,000 sqt mural painting depicting undersea flora and FAA in the heart of Chinatown we find buona's powerful stainless steel statue of sunat senen China's George Washington even the gates of the city realistic Financial section have been crashed by Art before the entrance to the stock exchange Dynamic figures of workmen and work women are cut in Granite here the artist has applied the earthy Simplicity of Mayan art to Modern [Music] themes San Francisco is a city of spectacular surprises within a stormes throw of the busy downtown section in a continuation of the very Street we see there is Sunday calm and Stillness and the nostalgic atmosphere of bygone days in the attics and upper stories of high ceilinged old fashioned buildings housing wine warehouses and small broom factories Studios have mushroomed breaking with skylights into the monotony of black [Music] roots once this studio was a storage Loft when the artist first moved in years ago spiders had spun elaborate webs and water leak through the ceiling the artist cleaned out the cobwebs repaired the leaks and filled the place with canvases and paint boxes brushes and flasks but otherwise he left it as it was [Music] before [Music] of all places housing artists in the city the Montgomery block has the oldest tradition Behind These Barrack Windows George Sterling wrote some of his finest poems Frank Norris wrote novels here and so did Charles and Kathleen Norris once this massive building of brick and stone contained San Francisco's First Law Library once high-headed wax mustached lawyers and stock Brokers had Offices here but in the '90s artists began to move in now probably more artists live in the Montgomery block than one could find living under any roof elsewhere in the country the rent is low there is Romance of the building's past and there is always another artist next door from whom to borrow a brush or some pastel not all of painters here is an industrial [Music] designer a young sculptress modeling in clay an etcher running a copper plate through a heavy hand press and examining the first trial proof a metal worker soldering the blank for a ring an artist who paints Landscapes and Street Scenes from imagination and with drawn curtains an editor in the throws of producing a little magazine which circulates in the art colony a young Chinese intently modeling the head of another member of San Francisco's Chinatown [Music] no they are not big these Studios but big enough to accommodate a good-sized mural such as this artist is designing for the San Francisco Press [Music] Club there are other studios in San Francisco Studio with enormous skylights built according to the artist's own plans many of these are spacious and functional striking combinations of the traditional atellier and modern ideas of design and layout some people seem to think of Art in terms of smock and pallet alone has it ever occurred to them that art makes its appearance as well in overalls and with a couple of buckets in its hands artists just don't sit around like in the second act of lava wh they have to be their own Masons their own Stone Cutters yes their own water boys there is wide activity in advertising art in San Francisco Printing and Publishing of the city's foremost Industries some of the most accomplished artists working in commercial Fields have their studios in San Francisco even here where originality and creative expression are applied to strictly commercial jobs art has not become dulled in routine divorced from free individual expression the stimulus of all that San Francisco is is too strong for [Music] that sometimes of course the artists turn their Studios into party settings especially when they have visitors like their friend Henry baramor Eastern painter in cist they would not be artists if they didn't have parties and they wouldn't be San franciscans if they didn't show warmhearted [Music] Hospitality one of the artists who has come to honor his Eastern colleague is the sculptor it was he who created Pacifica theme decoration of the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure [Music] Island there is always somebody in his outdoor stoneyard to sharpen tools or to discuss a new project nearly always you can find him here in San Francisco one can work out of doors all year round it never gets too cold and there is always a breeze from the ocean to cool the summer [Music] air twice a week the sculptor comes to the art school to teach a younger generation the meaning and the technique of his [Music] Art Spring down one of the slopes of Russian Hill with spacious Studios and Gardens the California School of Fine Arts is the second oldest art school in America the very atmosphere of its location overlooking the Latin quarter and the bay is inspiring to young people in their study of the Arts [Music] [Applause] the attraction of San Francisco which has so much to offer in Cosmopolitan spirit in Scenic excitement and in the professional Excellence of its Major Art School brings many hundreds of art students every year from all parts of the country to the Golden Gate every branch of art is taught at the California School of Fine Arts figure painting and Ceramics fashion illustration and life drawing interior decoration and lithography sculpture and advertising art metal work and coulage and of course outdoor sketching allowing the students to choose their own viewpoints and let their imaginations freely translate into sketches and paintings what appeals to them in their surroundings the California School of Fine Arts incidently is not the only art school in San Francisco there are others specializing in advert iing art fashion design and other Allied Arts few tools but skillful hands are needed to learn the secrets of an art which is as old as civilization poter [Music] helpful reasonably priced food is served at the cafeteria where scholarship students help behind the counter some meat their meals indoors against the background of murals painted by students themselves others take their trays to the sunlit patio here is the school spacious Library conducted along modern Library principles it contains hundreds of fine prints and color reproductions current art publications and valuable books on Ancient and Modern Art affiliated with the University of California the California School of Fine Arts has elected as its special function the training of those who want to go into commercial fields and who want to teach art still life painting develops the students ability to dramatically arrange subject matter [Music] e and here is our sculptor again ready to assist students where they need an expert hand in shaping figures in clay from a [Music] model [Music] or individual creative expression and as a forceful medium for book illustration and Commercial purposes lithography is one of the many technical courses offered by the California School of Fine Arts expertly the instructor gets a student Stone ready for printing first he etches it then inks it lays the paper on the stone and prepares the stone to be rolled under the [Music] Press and here you are young lady it's a nice design [Music] too in 1930 the art school invited Diego Rivera great Mexican muralist to paint this Fresco his first in the United States so realistic is the painting of The Artist on the scaffolding that at first glance one might think it Rivera himself actually it is but a lifesized depiction of the [Music] artist an announcement from the the California Palace of the Legion of Honor intrigues these students they decide to drive out to that museum to see the Masterwork of the month a scenic drive along the Golden Gate leads them up to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor the legion is a museum primarily devoted to the Fine Arts to paintings and sculptures by Old Masters Serene and its quiet surrounding it is a place of recollection a G of the spirit a Cathedral of art as we have studied in the past a lecturer is discussing the Masterwork of the month and of course Gainesboro greatest of all English portraitists immortalized in this painting the traits of a woman who had been closest and dearest to George 4th of England she was a commoner Maria Fitz Herbert but in his final Testament and will the king called her the wife of my heart and soul as you will notice in this painting gain burrow has succeeded ad aside from the English the Dutch and the Flemish schools are particularly well represented at the palace of the Legion of Honor among the Museum's Priceless Treasures is a dramatic portrait of St Peter by El Greco to lovers of portraits by the Old Masters the legion offers a wealth of Splendid [Music] examples art connoisseurs travel from afar to view the Museum's Fine Collection of Rodan bronzes and [Music] marbles beautifully landscaped into Golden Gate Park is the D Young Memorial Museum the city's oldest Art [Music] institution perhaps the people in San Francisco are more artm minded than in other communities Perhaps it is the Excellence and variety of the material on display that attracts so many in any event San Francisco's D Young Museum boasts the largest of attendance in relation to population of any Museum in the United States from a modest nucleus collection in 1895 it grew rapidly into an institution embracing in its galleries many thousands of Priceless objects which provide a thrilling shortcut through centuries of Mankind's creative effort the dong Memorial Museum is popular with the boys of the army they all stop at The Gun Room which traces the development of weapons through the centuries up to the modern [Music] tank you see the D young is essentially a people's Museum it is a family museum it is the kind of place people enjoy in the way they enjoy stories of distant lands in bygone days to stroll through these galleries does something to you time and space contract if it weren't for the guards about you could practically touch what by right belongs in other centuries and other parts of the [Music] globe Sailors on Furlow are fascinated by the old ship's lanterns ship models and nautical instruments occasionally our artistic Merit is subordinated to historical significance as in this Throne chair of [Music] Napoleon [Music] it is not art for art sake that people see here and enjoy it is art as the expression of other peop and other times it makes them feel their kinship with the world it stirs their aspiration for what is the essence of all civilization the spiritual things that make life richer and more abundant [Music] this rare old print shows the San Francisco City Hall which burned down in the fire of [Music] 19006 next to the Sumptuous new city hall in San Francisco Civic Center is the San Francisco Museum of Art complementing the functions of the other two museums by stressing educational activities and the work of living artists [Music] at the San Francisco Museum of Art the display of from 12 to 15 new shows each month is usual some of the shows are arranged for locally some are loan exhibitions from other art institutions of the country new arrivals are carefully unpacked like this painting of mother and child by the modern Master Picasso checked combined with others from the Museum's permanent collection then taken up to the galleries for [Music] hanging the San Francisco Museum of Art is a Young Museum that is young in its preoccupation with contemporary art art and its exploration of modern art and its sources it is young in its manner of presenting exhibitions in a fresh and Lively way in providing explanations and demonstrations to explain them and in its freedom from Museum tradition and hampering policies but is Young by being experimental exploratory and active in all Fields touching on [Music] art let's change it put it over here all right looks like a good idea me all right let's see what happens here you take that there are so many educational activities at the San Francisco Museum that a person can actually find a different one for each of many nights week after week all through the year to be a broadest possible service to working people who are usually unable to come in the daytime the museum only one in the country in this respect is open free to the public every week night until 10:00 lectures coordinated with current exhibitions are effectively Illustrated with slides and Motion Pictures children's classes on Saturday mornings are designed for all children regardless of artistic abilities [Music] these classes provide a happy outlet for the youngsters [Music] imagination [Music] courses and flower arrangements are attended by many San Francisco women who look for new ideas for table decorations but these courses have a deeper meaning a challenge to Good Taste and design and color that lead many to a fresh understanding of the fundamental principles that underly all art at the Museum's painting for pleasure class everybody who wants to dabble is welcome it is all handled in a very informal manner there are plenty of paint and brushes and no questions asked the class is open one night a week you may come and go whenever you please they all come factory worker long shorman stenographer and even the ti a businessman what his office boy ever guessed that he had always nursed a secret desire to be a painter of Landscapes yes he should make a note of that art show at the ferry building it's open to everybody and he won't have to pass a highbrow jury either to have his pictures [Music] exhibited in the ferry building decor ated with gay banners San Francisco's artists have hung their [Music] paintings the thousands who wander through these spacious arcades react joyfully and spontaneously to the still lives and Landscapes the pottery and small sculptures that have sprung from the imagination and skill of their artists here they find realization of their own dreams projection of their hopes and aspirations there is nothing fancy or formal about the show that is not wrapped in pomp or mystery it is alive young and dynamic part of the people part of the city that has inspired it San Francisco for