CODY MURAL - 1960
Located in the original patio of the Cody House, and likely made using three sections of cast concrete, the mural comprises abstract shapes in yellow and red ochre, black, white, and grey that are arranged against a modulated ground. The ground transitions from mid-grey/blue to a pale grey/white at the mural’s center. The colored forms echo those of the mini ‘desert landscape’ of pipe cactus and rocks that was arranged in front of the mural.
CODY MURAL IN SITU, C. UNKNOWN
CODY HOUSE MURAL SKETCH, C. 1959
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The William F. and Winifred Cody House
1950 East Desert Palms Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262
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House completed 1952. Mural circa 1960.
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William F. Cody, FAIA
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Oil paint on canvas
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Approximately 8 ft. x 14 ft.
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Unknown
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William F. Cody, FAIA
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Destroyed c. 1990s when the house was remodeled by its then-owner, architect Francisco Urrutia, who had worked for Cody in the early 1970s.
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Top: TVS digital records.
Bottom: Courtesy of Paula Bueso-Inchausti.
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Current Cody House owners, Paula Bueso-Inchausti and Guillermo Casta, have a paint-on-paper sketch for the mural, signed by Van Sant and dated 1959.
William F. Cody is closely associated with the desert modern architecture of mid-century Palm Springs. His 1950 Thunderbird Country Club was “the world's first housing development facing a golf course and became the prototype for developments in every major US town.”[1] His subsequent work included the Eldorado Country Club, for which Van Sant created “Eldorado Myth, murals, glass mosaic, rock mosaic, and painting.”[2]
Van Sant’s parents frequented the Eldorado Country Club, where his father “Muggs” Van Sant and President Eisenhower “were friends and frequent golfing companions...Both the Van Sant and the Eisenhower families have cottages there.”[3]
[1] US Modernist, “William Francis Cody Jr. FAIA (1916-1978)
[2] Tom Van Sant, “Resume,” c. 2014, TVS digital records
[3] “Eisenhower Attends Van Sant Funeral Rite,” Los Angeles Times, Jan 8, 1964, pg. 21
