Frederic E. Law Olmstead

The grandson of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Olmsted was born April 10, 1911, in San Francisco (his father helped design the upscale St. Francis Wood neighborhood). He studied science at Stanford and art at the California School of Fine Arts and assisted Diego Rivera with his mural there. Olmsted assisted John Langley Howard and George Harris at Coit Tower in addition to painting his own mural. Olmsted created numerous murals and sculptures for public works in San Francisco, including the surreal Theory and Science mural at San Francisco City College. He taught art for a while at Arts and Crafts in Oakland. He spent the latter part of his career working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute designing equipment and machinery for its marine research. He died on February 14, 1990, in Falmouth, Mass.

Works in Coit Tower:

Power