{{Short description|American painter}} {{Infobox person | name = Hugo Ballin | image = Hugo Ballin - Mar 1924 ETR.jpg | alt = | caption = Ballin in 1924 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1879|03|07}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|11|27|1879|03|07}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/28/archives/hugo-ballin-76-noted-muralist-west-coast-artist-dies-had-produced.html | title=HUGO BALLIN, 76, NOTED MURALIST; West Coast Artist Dies-- Had Produced 100 Movies, Including 'East Lynne' Decorated B'nai B'rith Temple| newspaper=The New York Times| date=28 November 1956}}</ref> | nationality = | occupation = | years_active = 1910–1956 | spouse = {{marriage|Mabel Croft|1909}}<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHH45aYubp4C&q=mabel+croft+ballin&pg=PA25 |title = Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925|isbn = 9781555950293|last1 = Dearinger|first1 = David Bernard|year = 2004| publisher=Hudson Hills }}</ref> }} '''Hugo Ballin''' {{post-nominals|list=NA}} (March 7, 1879 – November 27, 1956<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.burbankusa.com/citymanager/CouncilChamber.htm|title=Burbank, CA : Home|work=burbankusa.com|accessdate=3 May 2015}}</ref>) was an American artist, muralist, author, and film director. Ballin was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/centuryofartslet00lewi|url-access=registration|title=A Century of Arts & Letters: The History of the National Institute of Arts & Letters and the American Academy of Arts & Letters as Told, Decade by Decade, by Eleven Members|first1=Louis|last1=Auchincloss|first2=John|last2=Updike|date=1 January 1998|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231102483|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and the National Academy of Design.
==Biography== Ballin was born in New York City and studied at the Art Students League of New York. When the Wisconsin State Capital was built in the early 20th century, Ballin created 26 murals for its interior.<ref>[http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/core/wisconsin_state_capitol_tour.html Wisconsin.gov - Capitol Tour<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070527102024/http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/core/wisconsin_state_capitol_tour.html |date=2007-05-27 }}</ref> In 1917, he began working for Goldwyn Pictures in New Jersey as an art director and production designer, and in 1921, he moved to Los Angeles at the request of Samuel Goldwyn. He was soon also directing, writing, and producing silent films for his own production company. He was married to the actress Mabel Croft Ballin.
When Hollywood began making talking pictures, Ballin left the film industry to return to his first career as a classically trained artist. He became one of the foremost muralists in the Los Angeles area, producing murals which still stand at landmark locations such as Griffith Observatory, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, LA County General Hospital (now known as Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center), and Burbank City Hall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacountyarts.org/civicart/01_First_District/civic_LACUSC.htm|title=LA County Arts Commission - Civic Art Active Projects|work=lacountyarts.org|accessdate=3 May 2015}}</ref>
Ballin became a National Academician in 1906, when the Society of American Artists, to which he was elected in 1905, merged with the Nation Academy of Design. That same year, Ballin received the National Academy of Design's Thomas B. Clarke Prize for his work, "Mother and Child". In 1940, for his work "The Deposition", depicting Christ being removed from the cross, he was again awarded the Clarke Prize, a rare occurrence in Academy history.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHH45aYubp4C|title=Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925|first=David Bernard|last=Dearinger|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Hudson Hills|isbn=9781555950293|via=Google Books}}</ref>
His primary work studio was at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. He is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica, location of one of his final commissions, a set of frescoes depicting the life and death of Christ. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/921441 |title=Hugo Ballin |work=Olympedia |accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref>
== Selected murals == [[File:Los Angeles Times interior with globe.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Ballin's murals in the lobby of the Los Angeles Times Building]] *''Burbank Industry'' mural (Burbank City Hall) *A series of fresco murals depicting the medical sciences in the vaults and groins of the entry to Los Angeles County General Hospital (nka LAC-USC Medical Center), a building also containing works by sculptor S. Cartaino Scarpitta.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/los-angeles-countyusc-medical-center|title=Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center {{!}} Los Angeles Conservancy|website=www.laconservancy.org|language=en|access-date=2018-04-27}}</ref> The murals are the only known public frescos created by Ballin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lacountyarts.org/civicart/objects-1/info/19|title=Untitled {{!}} LA County Arts Commission|website=www.lacountyarts.org|date=10 October 2016|language=en|access-date=2018-04-27|archive-date=2018-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428094410/https://www.lacountyarts.org/civicart/objects-1/info/19|url-status=dead}}</ref> *Murals in the Globe Lobby of the Los Angeles Times Building *Six murals depicting California history (''La Brea Tar Pits'', ''Spanish Period'', ''Treaty of Cauenga'', ''First Survey of Los Angeles'', ''Coming of the Railroad'' and ''The Modern Scene'') in the elevator lobby of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building/Los Angeles Public Library *''Rudimentary Education,'' a mural sponsored and commissioned by the federal Public Works of Art Project at El Rodeo Elementary School, Beverly Hills *''The Apotheosis of Power'' (Southern California Edison Building/One Bunker Hill along with the works of Robert Merrell Gage, Barse Miller and Conrad Buff) *''The Four Freedoms'' mural (Burbank City Hall) *''The March of Science Through the Ages'' (Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, California) *''Warner Memorial Murals'' (Wilshire Boulevard Temple) *''Water, Power, and Light'' mural (Burbank Water and Power Administration Building)<ref name="GC">{{cite web |title=Water, Power and Light |url=http://www.grconnect.com/murals/html/p9171402.html |website=Grassroots Connection |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref><ref name="BWP">{{cite web |title=Renovation of Historic Administration Building |url=https://www.burbankwaterandpower.com/images/administrative/downloads/Historic-Adm-Building.pdf |website=Burbank Water and Power |access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref>
== Selected bibliography == *[https://books.google.com/books?id=rgctAAAAYAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Hugo%20Ballin%22&pg=PT8 ''Mural Paintings in the Executive Chamber State Capitol Building, Madison, Wis.''] (1913) *''The Broken Toy'' (1924) *''The Woman at the Door'' (1925) *''Stigma'' (1928) *''Dolce Far Niente'' (1933)
== Selected filmography == {{div col}} * ''Baby Mine'' (1917) * ''Thais'' (1917) * ''Back to the Woods'' (1918) * ''The Glorious Adventure'' (1918) * ''The Face in the Dark'' (1918) * ''The Kingdom of Youth'' (1918) * ''Lord and Lady Algy'' (1919) * ''Pagan Love'' (1920) * ''East Lynne'' (1921) * ''Jane Eyre'' (1921) * ''The Journey's End'' (1921) * ''Other Women's Clothes'' (1922) * ''Married People'' (1922) * ''Vanity Fair'' (1923) * ''Souls for Sale'' (1923) * ''The Prairie Wife'' (1925) * ''The Shining Adventure'' (1925) * ''The Love of Sunya'' (1927), produced by and starring Gloria Swanson {{div col end}}
== References == <References/>
== External links == {{commons category}} *[http://scalar.usc.edu/hc/hugo-ballins-los-angeles/index ''"Hugo Ballin's Los Angeles"'' web essay by Caroline Luce] *{{IMDb name|0050846}} *[http://www.lacountyarts.org/civicart/01_First_District/civic_LACUSC.htm Ballin's page at the LA County Arts Commission] *[http://www.burbankusa.com/citymanager/CouncilChamber.htm Burbank City Hall murals]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballin, Hugo}} Category:1879 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:American silent film directors Category:American art directors Category:American production designers Category:American muralists Category:Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica Category:National Academy of Design members Category:Painters from New York City Category:20th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics Category:20th-century American male artists Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters