Born: 29 July 1914, United States
Died: 26 November 1995
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Shirley Julian
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
In 2003, five cans were found in the basement of the Sala Burton Building (Maritime Museum). One can in particular stands out: an old, rusty cat food can with the residue of blue paint inside. A label on the side reads “Flat Blue Fish, Panel #26” in pencil. Park staff determined that the cans were used to mix and apply paint to the stunning sea-themed murals created in the late 1930s in the lobby of what was once the Aquatic Park Bathhouse. The label identifies the specific panel and subject on the mural.
The paint can is a tangible link to a past world very different from our own. The artists who painted the murals were hired as part of the Federal Art Project, the visual arts arm of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA). As a national relief program during the Great Depression, it employed over 10,000 artists to create public art with few restrictions. While women artists participated, their work has been overshadowed by the men who directed projects. This was true of the Aquatic Park Bathhouse murals. Tracing who potentially used the blue paint for the fish reveals how women artists contributed to public art at a time when such projects were believed to be essential for maintaining the “collective spirit” of the San Francisco community.
Two known women possibly used the blue paint. The most likely was Ann Sonia Medalie, a Latvian immigrant and muralist known as the “queen of fish” for making the mural fish shimmer with metallic powders and transparent glazes. The other was Shirley Staschen Triest, a veteran of the Coit Tower murals and labor protests, who may have assisted in painting the lobby. The sense of community women like Ann and Shirley helped create through their work on the murals extended to the vibrant arts-centered, radical bohemian culture found in San Francisco during the Great Depression.
For a time, both Ann and Shirley lived in “The Monkey Block,” an affordable refuge for artists during the Great Depression. After work, they would unwind at the Black Cat Café – “where everything was happening” – to discuss art, politics, and their work.8 They also mingled with fellow artists at union meetings, sharing information about WPA jobs. It was a scene open to communists, anarchists, pacifists, lesbians, and gay men among others. The openness, cooperation, and compassion of the community was something organic and beautiful, but also, as Shirley pointed out, a product of financial need.
Before the New Deal, art was primarily a luxury commodity and artists were often isolated and unfunded. By funding artists en masse, the Federal Art Project enabled artists to not just put food on the table but also collaborate with and inspire each other. They became professionals making a significant contribution to American life. By funding women specifically, at a time when most funding and benefits fell to male breadwinners and reinforced women’s role in the traditional home or in lower paid domestic work, the Federal Art Project provided an opening for women to become respected wage earners on par with their male counterparts.
Ann and Shirley lived unconventional lives as WPA artists and members of San Francisco’s bohemian scene. After she finished working for the WPA, Ann traveled all over the world to different artists’ communities, enriching her art. Shirley never left California, but she also never stopped being receptive to radical political and social ideas and new art styles. For women artists like them, home was the creative space where they could make blue fish come alive and shimmer. It was also a collaborative community that valued art in public spaces. While the world they inhabited did not survive economic recovery, their art remains.