The Santa Barbara Cemetery is a cool haven of repose on a pine-shaded promontory overlooking the ocean, a short walk uphill from the famous “East Beach.”
Its beautifully proportioned Chapel was designed by the late George Washington Smith with the assistance of Lutah Maria Riggs. Smith drew upon his study of European architecture to create an edifice that incorporated the flavor of 15th-century Catalonian chapels. It is a marvel of tasteful simplicity. A tiled tower dome punctuates the exterior of the white sanctuary. Inside, dark beams and vaulted arches offer a timeless environment for contemplation. Interior marble walls, dark-beamed wooden ceiling, and low pointed arches all derive from Romanesque French chapels and churches of that era.
Artist Alfredo Ramos Martinez (1872-1946), regarded by many as the true father of modern Mexican painting, created these remarkable murals in 1934. His work was commissioned by Mrs. George Washington Smith, widow of the Chapel’s architect.
Throughout the murals, Martinez used only the most subdued colors: browns, sepias, grayish-peach for flesh tones and creamy whites for the robes. His bouquets and garlands of flowers have slightly more color than the architecturally colored figures. But overall tonality is purposefully low-keyed to fit the reverential mood of the Chapel ceremonies.
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