Art and the city; civic imagination and cultural authority in Los Angeles.

9780812241174

Art and the city; civic imagination and cultural authority in Los Angeles.

Schrank, Sarah.

U. of Pennsylvania Pr.

2009

216 pages

$39.95

Hardcover

N8845

Public art is a reflection of how a city wants itself to be perceived. In the case of Los Angeles the past century of art has actually reflected a struggle between fantasy and reality. Schrank (history, California State U., Long Beach) follows the development of civic art from the establishment of a commission determined to lure settlers from the east, through the rise of Latino mural artists and the building of museums, to post-war conservatism, and finally to the explosion of citizen-based art as exemplified by the fight to save Nuestro Pueblo (the Watts Towers). Schrank states that the presentation of art was controlled by the elite in order to maintain a facade but that, through letters to the city council and newspapers and public protests, the many other segments of the city made their voices heard. The influence of the Hollywood elite and the fictional vision of Los Angeles are taken into account as part of the mix, making the image of the city through its public art, unique.

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