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Drawn from the Lucile Lloyd Papers at the University of California, Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Archive, Lucile Lloyd: A Life in Murals offers a rare look at a prolific yet understudied artist. During the Great Depression, Lucile Lloyd (1894-1941) built an active career as a mural decorator. Her richly-colored scenic murals and stenciled patterns adorned the interiors of homes, schools, restaurants, shops, and public buildings. Lloyd began her career in New York, and in 1919 relocated to the Los Angeles area. Murals were at a height of popularity. Hand-painted ornament was fashionable in homes and public buildings alike, and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded public murals to ease unemployment during the Depression. In 1935, Lloyd became the first woman artist in Southern California to receive a prestigious WPA commission. The resultant mural, California’s Name, was her last major project.   

Since Lloyd’s death in 1941, many of her murals have been lost. The mode of decoration she practiced, however, is a hallmark of the Spanish Revival and Art Deco styles of architecture popular during the 1920s and 30s, of which numerous examples remain. The Lucile Lloyd Papers, therefore, give insight into a forgotten trade and the tastes, values, and building practices in Southern California and the United States during the 1920s and 30s.