Gordon B. Newell (1905 - 1998)

I looked at the woodcut (bas relief) in the main office (Belmont HS) again this morning and the artist's signature (not easy to read) was Gordon Newell. Turns out he was a relatively big artist around LA in the 1930's (a bio I run across said he taught at the Chouinard Art School and Occidental). He died near Carmel in 1998.

His "The Horseman" is apparently in the Hollywood Post Office:

The United States Post Office in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, also known as Hollywood Station, is an active U.S. post office located at 1615 Wilcox. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Design

In 1937, renowned Art Deco architect Claud Beelman, a partner at Curlett + Beelman, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to design the Hollywood Post Office Building. A wooden bas-relief inside, titled "The Horseman", was carved by artist Gordon Newell as a WPA commission and still stands above a door.

The ground breaking was tilled by the infamous censor Will B. Hayes by steam shovel. The post office is one of the few governmental and historical structures left unscathed in Hollywood.
Claud Beelman was a self-trained draftsman turned "moderne" architect in the early 20th century. He designed the Los Angeles County Fair Gallery, also commissioned by the WPA in 1937.

[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Hollywood,_California)]

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