GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY - 1963
Images have been found for two of what may have been five Van Sant murals at Mount St. Antonio College (see “dimensions” below”). Reminiscent of Van Sant’s grisaille approach in Union Union (1957), both depict a religious leader in monochrome.
In one, a young man sits cross-legged in profile. His eyes are closed and a lotus, Buddhist symbol of enlightenment and purity, hovers in front of him. This represents Gautama Sidhartha, the founder of Buddhism. In the second painting, an older man with long white hair and a beard is shown seated but turned full faced to the viewer. To his right hovers a version of the yin-yang symbol. This image represents Laozi (romanized as Lao Tzu), one of the founders of Taoism. The heads of both men are surrounded by halos, as if emanating light.
-
Mount San Antonio College
1100 N. Grand Ave, Walnut, CA 91789
-
1963
-
Austin, Field, & Fry.
-
Acrylic paint on canvas
-
"1700 square feet on five walls." [1]
As the artist documented only two images for this project, it is unclear whether this dimension is intended to reference all of the Library Building murals, which were executed by more than one artist; or for Van Sant's work specifically.
[1] Van Sant Resume, 2014
TVS Digital Record
-
Unknown
-
Mount San Antonio College
-
Unknown. The murals were either painted over or covered by drywall during building renovations in 1999.
-
TVS digital records.
-
In 1963, architects Austin, Field & Fry designed a new three-floor library building for Mt. Sac “in the Modern Style.”[1] In various of his resumés, Van Sant described this work as the result of an “Invitational Competition Award By Jury.” The jury selected three artists: Van Sant, Susan Hertel, and Ricardo C. Alvarez.
Mt. SAC. Librarian Hong Guo explained that “the artists were asked to embody Humanities, Social, Physical, and Life Sciences. According to Mt. SAC history, Van Sant created murals symbolizing the social sciences and humanities, with The Machine, Jesus of Nazareth, Gandhi, The Buddhas and Laotse. Hertel’s showed physical and biological sciences... Alvarez painted the History of California Mural.”[2]
Notably, Susan Lautmann Hertel was a core member of the Millard Sheets Studio who worked on some of the projects to which Van Sant contributed artworks, including the Mercantile National Bank, Dallas, TX (1958) and Buffums Department Store, Pomona, CA (1962).
1] S. Davis, J. Gorman, S. Andrews, ASM Affiliates, Inc., Cultural Resource Evaluation Report for Mt. SAC SEIR for 2015 Facilities Master Plan Update and Physical Education Projects, April 2016,
[2] Email exchange with the author, 6/30/22.
