San Diego Mission

Josephine Joy, San Diego Mission, ca. 1935-1939, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.45
Copied Josephine Joy, San Diego Mission, ca. 1935-1939, oil on fiberboard, 39 3⁄4 x 48 in. (101.0 x 122 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.45
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
San Diego Mission
Artist
Date
ca. 1935-1939
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
39 3⁄4 x 48 in. (101.0 x 122 cm.)
Credit Line
Transfer from General Services Administration
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on fiberboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • New Deal — Works Progress Administration, Federal Art Project — California
  • Landscape — California — San Diego
  • Architecture — religious — mission
  • Figure male — full length
Object Number
1971.447.45
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1971.447.45

Artwork Description

The deep greens contrasting with the sunlit adobe in Josephine Joy's San Diego Mission evoke the verdant locale of California's first Spanish mission, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá. The painting shows the historic building over time; cracked and exposed brick stands out against the intricate bell tower that was added to the structure during renovations in 1931.

The Works Progress Administration, A Depression-era federal agency that sponsored artists to create public art from 1935 to 1943, enlisted Joy to work on the Souhern California Art Project from 1936 to 1939, despite her lack of formal training. She took inspiration from California's twenty-one missions, which were founded between 1769 and 1823 along the coastline. The populations around these missions evolved into the state's major cities.