El Camino Real, 1971

Millard Sheets (1907-1989)

Tile 15' x 31'

City of Beverly Hills with a donation by Robert Ahmanson

Artist, designer, and educator Millard Sheets was one of the leading figures in Los Angeles art on either side of World War II. His murals, many made of tile, dotted the Southern California landscape, appearing on and in government and corporate buildings alike. The landscape and recreation of the region figured prominently in Sheets' work; such subject matter, and Sheets' almost Art Deco-like formal refinement, determined a kind of public-art parallel with that of the California-scene painters and watercolorists, many of whom were friends with and influenced by Sheets. El Camino Real, referring to the high road built between missions throughout California in Spanish colonial times, was originally installed in the motor court of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which gifted it to the City in 1987.