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San Francisco: Arts for the City; Civic Art and Urban Change, 1932–2012

by Susan Wels
Heyday. 2013. 224p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781597142069. $45. FINE ARTS
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This book tells the story of the San Francisco Arts Commission and how it became a national and international leader in promoting municipal advocacy for the arts. The commission was founded in 1932 to oversee public art and municipal music but, over time, assumed responsibility for all aspects of the city's cultural life, including arts festivals, street artists, and the design of city-constructed buildings. San Franciscan Wels (Amelia Earhart: The Thrill of It) presents the achievements and struggles of the commission from its creation up to 2012, divided into six chronological chapters. The book's 175 color photographs document a wide range of San Francisco's art and cultural activities. The book also includes a list of San Francisco arts commissioners from 1932 to the present.
VERDICT No other books have been written about the commission, though Michele H. Bogart's The Politics of Urban Beauty and Sarah Schrank's Art and the City cover the arts-government relationship in New York City and Los Angeles, respectively. For readers interested in San Francisco's cultural history and in how government, community, and artists can work together for the benefit of all.
Reviewed by Martha Smith, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY , Jun 15, 2013
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