A conundrum

Murals at Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach, originally uploaded by drtaxsacto.

In the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach in San Francisco (we had friends from Mexico visiting and showed them the city over the weekend) there is a mural that is evocative of the Mexican muralists. Those painters started in the early twentieth century but were in their highest period about the same time that the Resettlement Administration and the Works Progress Administration helped to create similar styles in the US. A lot of the public art in the US evokes similar style. The one in the Beach Chalet was done in 1931 - there is a similar mural at Coit Tower (for photos see Coit Tower Photos or other photos of Coit Tower with a history) Rivera was in San Francisco for an extended period in the late 1930s to see the Golden Gate International Exposition and did two murals (one in CCSF and one at the San Francisco Art Institute). But there were clear ties to him well before his visit to the city. I wonder how the style evolved.