The stacked cliffs, uninhabited shorelines and winding roads that comprise the La Jolla Post Office’s esteemed mural “Scenic View of the Village” are unarguably complex. “The roads seem to have no end,” said Bram Dijkstra, emeritus professor of literature at The University of California, San Diego. “You could stand there for hours and look at it.” In fact, the work of art is almost as complex as the woman who painted it. Chicago-born artist Belle Baranceanu was commissioned to create the piece, one of few that are still in existence from the 1930s government-conducted Public Works of Art Project, and Dijkstra visited The La Jolla Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage Sept. 16 to share insight of her legacy. Young, feisty and small in stature, Dijkstra described Baranceanu as someone who was determined to develop her own modernist style during The Great Depression, a time when modernism was almost nonexistent. She fell in love with her mentor, Italian artist Anthony Angarola, and ended up denouncing her real last name, Goldschlager, as her Orthodox Jewish father didn’t allow the relationship. Baranceanu was known for her free spirit that was impossible to suppress. She turned down a job at The Bishop’s School because she wasn’t allowed to wear sandals, and even in her last days she could be found dancing in the halls of her nursing home. Modern and abstract, the La Jolla Post Office mural is quite different than what the U.S. government had in mind for its public works during The Great Depression. But luckily, Dijkstra said, the painting was free of content depicting social issues. More than 100,000 public works produced during that era were destroyed due to their controversial content. Another of Baranceanu’s pieces, on the other hand, was torn down in La Jolla High school because the wall was considered “earthquake-unsafe.” John Bolthouse, director of the Historical Society, said the post office, in addition to its mural, is one of few buildings in La Jolla that have maintained its original form and façade since the 1930s. “It’s important to bring to light that heritage,” Bolthouse said. “Especially since 1935 La Jolla was only a small percentage of what you see now.” —The program regarding the “Scenic View of the Village” mural at the La Jolla Post Office is one of the many projects of the La Jolla Historical Society. The organization is in the midst of the public phase of its capital campaign. For more information or to contribute to the campaign, call (858) 459-5335 or visit www.lajollahistory.org.