6 -- The Blessing of the Animals

1974-1978
Leo Politi
10'H

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History behind the Piece

The Blessing of the Animals has been an annual tradition in the Plaza since 1938. This popular event, with its colorful mix of animals and people, is captured in Leo Politi's distinctively simple and gentle style by the large mural on the Biscaulux Building. Dedicated on April 4, 1978, by Cardinal Timothy Manning, the mural recalls some of the people who participated in the ceremony over the years; a blind harp player who performed the song La Paloma during the sparsely attended processions during the 1940s; a tall thin violinist who regularly played on Olvera Street and was the basis for the grandfather in Politi's classic children's book Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street; a lady with poodles who worked in a booth on Olvera Street; and Emmet and Oscar -- Politi's own dogs under the stairway.

The mural also portrays Politi's observations made while executing the piece, including the sparrows that fed at his feet on quiet days and a baby, which he depicts in a basket on a donkey's back.

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The Piece

The Filippa Pollia Foundation commissioned the mural in 1971. It then took two years for the El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park Commission, which governed the park at the time, to agree on a these and site for the work. The foundation established in 1936 by Joseph Pollia in memory of his daughter Filippa, paid for the acrylic paint and scaffold, while Politi donated his time. During the four years (1974-78) he worked on the mural, Politi also carved the wood ornament over the entrance to the building and designed the stained glass and tile at the foot of the mural that bear the title.

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The Artist

Leo Politi (1908- ), born in Fresno, moved to Italy with his family at age 6. After receiving his art training, he returned to California in the 1930s. Politi worked on Olvera Street paining portraits of tourists. He later wrote and illustrated children's books, including Pedro of Olvera Street and Juanita which center around the Blessing of the Animals. Politi was awarded the Caldecott Medal, the nation's highest honor to authors of children's books, for Mission Bell and Song of the Swallows. In addition, his book of drawings of the houses on Bunker Hill which were torn down in the name of progress during the late 1960s is cherished as a reminder of these lost treasures of Los Angeles architecture.