1968 Los Angeles
The Vintage Map Shop, Inc.
Regular price $45.00
Unit price per
By: Gene Holton
Original Date: 1968 (copyright) Los Angeles, CA
Size of Original: 26 x 19.5 inches
This is a fine print reproduction of an interesting bird's-eye-view poster of Los Angeles, California by the illustrator Gene Holtan. The print serves as a critique of the extensive freeway project carried out by the city from 1940 to 1970.
Above the urban landscape, the sun peers down disdainfully, using a clothespin to shield its nose from the noxious odors of pollution and smog. A complex network of highways traverses past iconic Los Angeles landmarks, including the Capitol Records Tower, Griffith Observatory, Watts Towers Arts Center, the Theme Building at LAX International Airport, Hollywood Bowl, and the towering Los Angeles City Hall that dominates the skyline. Holtan even depicts a freeway that terminates over the Pacific Ocean, with vehicles carelessly plunging into the sea.
Gene Holtan was born 1930 in Saskatchewan Canada. After studying and not graduating from the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary, Alberta, he went on to study and not graduate from Art Center in Los Angeles. Financial demands of family life forced him from fine arts into a successful career as commercial artist, illustrating the occasional book, and for such clients as the NFL, Ramparts Magazine, Rolling Store, F-Troop (TV series title drawings), Saturday Evening Post, Neiman Marcus, Lady's Home Journal, and never-ending 4 Day tire ads in the Los Angeles Times.
Ref: Santa Cruz Sentenial
Inventory #12621