Martin Luther King Jr.

Artist: Suter, Lyle

Date: 1972

Medium: Oil paint on fabric

Artwork Dimensions: 48 x 36 1/8 in.

County Department: Mental Health

Artwork Site: Mark Ridley-Thomas Behavioral Health Center

Supervisorial District: 2

Current Status: On view

About the Artwork: Colonial Savings and Loan Association commissioned artist Lyle Suter to paint a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the MLK, Jr. Hospital in 1971.

About the Artist: Lyle Suter was a renowned American artist and educator. With his wife Joan, he managed and worked with others, creating the highly successful BHHS Multi-Cultural Program, an inter-district integration program between the school districts of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The program graduated hundreds of outstanding minority students from BHHS from 1971 to 2011 while improving the cultural and social experience of BHHS resident students. Professionally Lyle became one of the top American artists and portrait painters, both nationally and locally of distinguished individuals, including his 1971 commission by Colonial Savings and Loan to do the official portrait of Martin Luther King for the new MLK Hospital in Los Angeles.