Bunker Hill Excavation

Artist Lois Green Cohen (1919 - 2012)

Date1941

MediumWatercolor on paper

Dimensions21 1/2 x 30 in. (54.6 x 76.2 cm)
Framed (Frame is gold, wired, glazed): 32 x 39 x 1 3/4 in. (81.3 x 99.1 x 4.4 cm)

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineThe Sally and David Martin Collection

Object number2026.019

DescriptionIn the early 1940s when Lois Green went to work at MGM Studios, she was hired by the scenic art supervisor George Gibson. She was working as a sketch artist and scenic background painter. Green was also interested in pursuing a fine art career and developed a distinctly different painting style, from the carefully rendered, illustrative and representational style art she was producing for the studio.

In 1941 when this watercolor was apparently produced, the only part of Bunker Hill that was being excavated was the northern base of the hill where land, landscape and some historical structures had to be completely cleared to make way for the 101 Hollywood Freeway that was scheduled to cut right through the center of Los Angeles. The WPA was involved in the planning for shaving some 30 feet of sandstone earth off the top of that part of Bunker Hill. Fort Moore Hill that was adjacent to it, was also severely reshaped through massive land moving operations.

Lois Green apparently felt the need to use her artistic talents to interpret the story of what was happening in Los Angeles and did that through her narrative visual fine art output. At this same time she became a member of the California Water Color Society and actively exhibited her art in the annual exhibitions. After she married Eugene Cohen in October of 1945, she began using the name Lois Green Cohen.

– Gordon McClelland, curator

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