Jennie Lewis, born San Diego, CA - New Mint Building - n.d. - T-Shirt

This lithograph shows San Francisco's New Mint Building as a wide horizontal panorama of civic architecture set within the working city around it.

Visual Elements & Composition

The large arcaded civic building with its pale facade sits at the centre of the scene and dominates the composition. Rows of low rooftops and sheds run beneath it, with industrial chimneys and a water tower standing on trestle legs. Stylised swirling clouds fill the upper sky. The palette is restrained: warm paper tone covers half the image, while pencil grey, dark graphite and light grey build the shading and detail. The lettering NEW MINT BLDG. and S.F. CAL. is printed into the design, naming the building and its city.

Meaning & Symbolism

The New Mint Building housed the San Francisco branch of the United States Mint, where coins were struck, so the architecture carries economic history as well as civic presence. Jennie Lewis, born in San Diego in 1892 and died in Fresno in 1944, drew the subject in the manner of American regionalist illustration, where accuracy and place take precedence over drama. The result is a contemplative record of a landmark that anchored its district and reflects the era in which it was built.

Across the Chest

On a T-shirt, the wide panorama lands across the chest, so the skyline reads clearly at arm's length. The pale civic facade becomes the focal point, while the chimneys, water tower and clouds reveal themselves as you move. Wearing the print places a piece of San Francisco's civic history on the body, with the building at the centre where it would have held the eye from the street.