Artwork Detail
Untitled
Artist: Dember, Solomon
Object Date: 1982
Medium: Paint on stucco
Imperial Dims: Overall: 192 x 576 in.
Department(s): Military and Veterans Affairs
Supervisorial District: 1
About the Artwork:
About the Artist:
On the fourth floor of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall is Solomon Dember’s mural representing the history of the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. The artwork was created using a fresco technique on the room’s stucco wall. The mural was part of the renovation done for the Navy/Marine Corps meeting rooms and was dedicated by Ronald Reagan in 1982. To depict naval history, Dember chose to show famous American ships and sea battles. The history begins on the left with the Revolutionary Warship Bonhomme Richard engaged in the Battle of Flamborough Head and continues with ships and battles of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and finally Vietnam. The mural was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Naval Foundation.
Sol Dember was born in 1923 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the New York School of Industrial Art and, after serving in the Army during WWII, also studied at France’s School of Fine Arts (L‘Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts). In the 1950s and 60s he created many depictions of potential space vehicle designs for NASA. In the 1960s he also created the design for a White House Christmas card and Lyndon Johnson bought the original painting on which the card was based. He has lived in Southern California since 1946 and has taught art at Pierce College for 25 years and at Moorpark College for 22 years.