This is one of a number of paintings Drew did for a firm who
constructed
shopping Plazas. As well as this painting he did for the Santa
Rosa
shopping Plaza Drew also did paintings for the Pasadena Plaza, the Long
Beach Plaza and the Las Vegas Shopping Plaza. They were used as
posters
or brochures and any number of promotional applications.
This particular painting for Santa Rosa had a special purpose.
Santa Rosa is a quiet little town just north of San Francisco in the
California
Wine growing area. It has a lot of history and the population was
afraid that a shopping center would destroy the quaint feeling of the
town.
Drew was hired to show how the shopping center would feel within the
setting
of their town and within it's spirit. You can see that the
backdrop
for the painting is the brick shopping center and montaged with it is
all
the historical and architectural vignettes from the towns
history.
You can note the march trough it's history from left to right.
See
the shot of the town as it appeared in the early part of the century
and
the old train station starting on the left. That's Luther
Burbank
who lived there in Santa Rosa and his famous cross pollinated
beans.
You can see the twenties with the flappers, the thirties architecture,
the forties with the car, the fifties and sixties fashion, right on up
to the "present".
Oh and they liked the painting; the Plaza was built.