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fEDERAL ART PROJECT
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Entrance Detail
Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana
Special Showing of Wall Paintings
Recorded by the
INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN
Fiesta of 1937
San Fernando, California
INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN
The Index of American Design in its present stage of
development cannot be viewed by the public at large as might a
completed mural or sculptural piece. It is possible to see only
the suggestion of what is to be, when Index plates are exhibited,
as local showings usually present the plates of greatest interest to
the largest number of persons.
Being national in scope, the drawings of early American
objects are sent to Washington to be prepared for publication,
where they are coordinated under the following classifications:
Glassware, Costume, Ceramics, Furniture, Metal, Architecture,
Carving, Textiles, andMiscellaneous.
Date, place of manufacture, original owner and present
owner all appear on data sheets accompanying; the Index drawings.
Art in a decorative form expressed in objects of daily
household use now recorded has proven the existence of many
folk arts in this country and has revealed many heretofore un¬
heard-of craftsmen whose workmanship has been recognized by
the few.
In Southern California many books have been written on
our romantic past; but little, if any, recognition has been given
the creative expression manifested in the decorative arts of that
period. Holger Cahill, National Director of the Federal Art
Project, has established the "Index" in order to preserve for our
students and designers the motifs of these indigenous designs.
WALL PA1NTTNGS AT MISSION SAN FERNANDO
Restoration drawings by the Index of American Design,
under the classification "Miscellaneous", show at a glance what
minute study will only gradually reveal. Beneath many coats
of plaster and whitewash, the original decorations of Mission San
Fernando have been found by a careful flaking and chipping pro¬
cess. Enough of these designs have been revealed to make
record drawings possible.
In considering the decorative wall painting of Mission
San Fernando Rey de Espana, the church proper is shadowed by
the mission-house. Around the doorways, in the reception
room and in General Pico's room, flowers, animals and geometric
forms once blazed in color. Most obvious in their present
condition are the California poppies on the walls of the Governor's
room. Little did the neophyte Indians realize, at the time of
painting, that this flower was destined to be the State emblem.
Moorish and Roman arches painted on the walls reflect the home¬
land of the Spanish padre-pioneers.
Blue and red ollas filled with flowers surmount the entrance
doorway to the mission-house, and a shell niche separates them.
To make sure the shell would be recognized as the motif, Indian
neophytes pictured a pecten shell over this niche. Color as used
at Mission San Fernando was very limited, being mainly hematite
reds; blue was used only sparingly.
On alternate arches were pictured interspaced flat tiles as
the decorative motif, as well as on the piers supporting these
arches. Of outstanding interest and worthy of notice are the
designs over all exterior doors: the double lines accenting the
archways, rows of triangles ending in a volute on either side, an
emblazoned sun, and the hunting-scene shown on the cover of
this folder.
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions of prints, watercolors, oils, mural designs, sculpture
and other media may be arranged for public and semi-public insti¬
tutions such as colleges, high schools, elementary schools, libraries,
museums, civic organizations, etc., by request to Beatrice Judd Ryan,
State Supervisor of Exhibitions, Federal Art Project, W. P. A., 49
Fourth Street, San Francisco.
FEDERAL ART PROJECT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Nelson H. Partridge, Jr.
Stale Director for Southern California
Warren W. Lemmon
Supervisor, Index of American Design
District Supervisors
Douglass E. Parshall, A.N.A.
29 East Ortega Street
Santa Barbara
Alexander P. Fleming
3450 Ninth Street
Riverside
Buckley Mac-Gurrin
2404 West Seventh Street
Los Angeles
Thyrsis Field
Room 13, Broadway Pier
San Diego