PBA Galleries

Tempera on gessoed masonite, with large reflective silver and gold
areas and carved relief. 198x138 cm (78x54¼") including the wooden frame.

Marvelous piece of African Americana, the original mural plaque commissioned by San Francisco showman and entrepreneur Wesley Johnson Sr. in 1948, and painted by Jon Oshanna. Wesley Johnson Sr. was best known in the l940’s and l950’s as the owner of Texas Playhouse at 1836 Fillmore Street. At this time the Fillmore neighborhood was known as the Harlem of the West, thriving with culture and black owned businesses. The heyday of the Fillmore died as quickly as it bloomed. In a city dominated by a conservative white establishment, Blacks were barred from the unions, white neighborhoods, and shunned by white businesses, making living conditions nearly unbearable. In the 1960’s and 1970's, urban renewal (aka, Negro removal) swept away the Fillmore. Hundred of homes and businesses were razed, and 4,000 Blacks were displaced. In 1948 after the mural was completed, it was believed to have hung in the office of Wesley Johnson at the Texas Playhouse. The artist, Jon Oshanna, was a prolific commercial muralist for hotels and public space in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii from the 1930’s to the 1960's. In 1974 the mural was donated to the African American Historical Society in San Francisco (AAHCS). The mural was on display for public viewing at the African American Museum and Library in
Oakland, California from April 9th through June 2014. Oddly, Douglass is spelled Douglas in the "signature" on the portrait, but perhaps not so odd. The same misspelling occurs on a plaque at Frederick Douglass Plaza apartments in San Francisco's Western Addition. Because of its large size, extra shipping charges will apply.