Hugo Ballin was a painter, set designer, filmmaker, and muralist, who worked and lived in Los Angeles from 1920 through his death in 1956. He painted dozens of murals across Southern California during those years, in both public and private spaces, each reflecting the expansion of the city of Los Angeles, the rise of film industry, and the creation of the city's modern architectural skyline. “Hugo Ballin’s Los Angeles” highlights some of the artist’s most vivid murals to draw connections, both visually and spatially, between the current landscape of Los Angeles, the city's rich artistic and architectural history, and Ballin's vision of art as a site of beauty and a means of cultural improvement.

Each path in this exhibit links essays about his life and his major commissions, galleries with detailed examinations of his murals, and additional information about the buildings in which they are housed. You can follow the links bellow to paths exploring the four major phases of Ballin’s career as a muralist or chose a specific mural commission path from the menu on the side.

• Beaux-Arts Prodigy
• Hollywood Scene Master
• Metropolitan Myth Maker
• Reluctant Modernist

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