You may not have heard the name of Tyron Comfort even if you are a collector of vintage California art. And yet, the Works Projects Administration (WPA) would not have chosen him to paint public art murals during the Depression (in a competitive vetting process) if he had not proven himself worthy of being called a professional artist and painted for a living. It seems, though, that dying at age 30 is bad for your reputation.

During the last two years, the pre-world war 2 Depression era built high school in San Pedro, California has been planning and getting started on a massive renovation (under the direction of the Los Angeles Unified School District – LAUSD). Preserving the “historic fabric” has been a major focus and the preservation of the WPA murals in the library from the massive demolitions and upgrading has been of special interest.

The nine Work Projects Administration 1937 murals were painted by artist Tyron Comfort just 2 years before he died (of causes unknown…he was only 30 years old). What’s interesting to me is that, since San Pedro is the Port of Los Angeles with Long Beach next door, it was obviously going to be a location where we, the USA, ramped up for the upcoming World War II. The USA was not going to be at war till the end of 1941… but these paintings show preparations in 1937.

Fine Art Conservation Laboratories (FACL, Inc.) was vetted and chosen from among more than a dozen firms bidding for the contract for removing the murals, restoring them and then reinstalling them back into their original locations when the renovated library will be ready (in about 2 years from now?). LAUSD pre-qualified FACL – Scott M. Haskins and the contract was awarded through the General Contractor, Pinner Construction Co. 

The oil on canvas murals glued to the walls with a lead based adhesive were removed this last week and have been transported to FACL’s lab for stabilization and restoration. The lab space is laid out and equipped for working on detached murals (10,000 sq. ft). At the moment, several other renown mural projects are under way.

Questions about preserving and restoring public art murals? Call Scott M. Haskins or Virginia Panizzon at 805 564 3438 or gena.FACLbusinessManager@gmail.com See testimonials on other public works