Hugo Ballin
Hugo Ballin | |
|---|---|
 Ballin in 1922 | |
| Born | March 7, 1879 New York City, NY |
| Died | November 27, 1956 (aged 77) |
| Years active | 1910-1925 |
| Spouse | Mabel Ballin (1917-1956) |
Hugo Ballin NA (March 7, 1879 – November 27, 1956[2]) was an American artist, muralist, author and film director. Ballin was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters[3] and the National Academy of Design.
Biography
Ballin was born in New York City and studied at the Art Students League of New York. When the Wisconsin State Capital was built in the early 20th Century, Ballin created 26 murals for its interior.[4] In 1917 he began working for Goldwyn Pictures in New Jersey as an art director and production designer, and in 1921 he moved to Los Angeles at the request of Samuel Goldwyn. He was soon also directing, writing, and producing silent films for his own production company. He was married to the actress Mabel Croft Ballin.
When Hollywood began making talking pictures, Ballin left the film industry to return to his first career as a classically trained artist. He became one of the foremost muralists in the Los Angeles area, producing murals which still stand at landmark locations such as Griffith Observatory, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, LA County General Hospital (now known as Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center), and Burbank City Hall.[5]
Ballin became a National Academician in 1906 when the Society of American Artists, to which he was elected in 1905, merged with the Nation Academy of Design. That same year, Ballin received the National Academy of Design’s Thomas B. Clarke Prize for his work, "Mother and Child". In 1940, for his work "The Deposition" depicting Christ being removed from the cross, he was again awarded the Clarke Prize, a rare occurrence in Academy history.[6]
His primary work studio was at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. He is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica, location of one of his final commissions, a set of frescoes depicting the life and death of Christ.
Selected murals
- Burbank Industry mural (Burbank City Hall)
- A series of fresco murals depicting the medical sciences in the vaults and groins of the entry to Los Angeles County General Hospital (nka LAC-USC Medical Center), a building also containing works by sculptor S. Cartaino Scarpitta.[7] The murals are the only known public frescos created by Ballin.[8]
- Mural in the Globe Lobby of the Los Angeles Times Building
- Six Murals depicting California history (La Brea Tar Pits, Spanish Period, Treaty of Cauenga, First Survey of Los Angeles, Coming of the Railroad and The Modern Scene) in the elevator lobby of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building/Los Angeles Public Library
- Rudimentary Education, a mural sponsored and commissioned by the federal Public Works of Art Project at El Rodeo Elementary School, Beverly Hills
- The Apotheosis of Power (Southern California Edison Building/One Bunker Hill along with the works of Robert Merrell Gage, Barse MIller and Conrad Buff)
- The Four Freedoms mural (Burbank City Hall)
- The March of Science Through the Ages (Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, California)
- Warner Memorial Murals (Wilshire Boulevard Temple)
- Water, Power, and Light mural (Burbank Water and Power Administration Building)[9]
Selected bibliography
- Mural Paintings in the Executive Chamber State Capitol Building, Madison, Wis. (1913)
- The Broken Toy (1924)
- The Woman at the Door (1925)
- Stigma (1928)
- Dolce Far Niente (1933)
Selected filmography
- The Glorious Adventure (1918)
- Lord and Lady Algy (1919)
- Jane Eyre (1921)
- Other Women's Clothes (1922)
- Vanity Fair (1923)
- Souls for Sale (1923)
- The Shining Adventure (1925)
- The Prairie Wife (1925)
- The Love of Sunya (1927) produced by and starring Gloria Swanson
References
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/28/archives/hugo-ballin-76-noted-muralist-west-coast-artist-dies-had-produced.html
- ^ "Burbank, CA : Home". burbankusa.com. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- ^ Auchincloss, Louis; Updike, John (1 January 1998). "A Century of Arts & Letters: The History of the National Institute of Arts & Letters and the American Academy of Arts & Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by Eleven Members". Columbia University Press – via Google Books.
- ^ Wisconsin.gov - Capitol Tour Archived 2007-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "LA County Arts Commission - Civic Art Active Projects". lacountyarts.org. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
- ^ Dearinger, David Bernard (1 January 2004). "Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925". Hudson Hills – via Google Books.
- ^ "Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center | Los Angeles Conservancy". www.laconservancy.org. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ^ "Untitled | LA County Arts Commission". www.lacountyarts.org. Retrieved 2018-04-27.
- ^ http://www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/home/Burbank---Carlsbad
External links
- "Hugo Ballin's Los Angeles" web essay by Caroline Luce
- Hugo Ballin at IMDb
- Ballin's page at the LA County Arts Commission
- Burbank City Hall murals
- Ballin's page at LA Murals
- Public Art in LA entry
- Hugo Ballin at Find a Grave
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1879 births
- 1956 deaths
- Art Students League of New York alumni
- Artists from New York City
- Silent film directors
- American art directors
- American production designers
- American muralists
- Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica
- National Academy of Design members
- Painters from New York (state)
- 20th-century American painters
- American male painters