A muralist’s career high

OVER the next few weeks, thousands of visitors to the revamped Griffith Observatory will look up and see the rotunda mural work of Hugo Ballin.

Ballin (1879-1956) isn’t quite a household name, but in the 1920s and ‘30s he was remarkably prolific in Los Angeles as a painter; stage designer; writer (several novels); director and producer of silent films (more than 100 of them, according to the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles); and designer of the 1932 Olympic commemorative medallion. He did the Griffith Observatory project in 1934 and ’35. His mural work can be found from Beverly Hills to Burbank, and the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles has documented enough works downtown to fill a walking tour.

On the facade of 433 S. Spring St., Los Angeles Design Center, you can see the three tile panels illustrating truth, perfection and beauty that Ballin did in 1928.

In the well-appointed lobby of the SoCal Edison building at 601 W. 5th St. there’s a 9-by-18-foot oil painting, “The Apotheosis of Power,” from 1930.

And then there’s the Los Angeles Times lobby at 1st and Spring streets, where Ballin’s work was revealed and restored in 1990 after three decades hidden behind panels.

-- Christopher Reynolds