[ad_1]
(Journalist)
–A 1931 mural created by Mexican painter Diego Rivera at the San Francisco Art Institute was to be sold to clear much of the school’s debt, a move that outraged many in the local community. “The realization of a fresco showing the construction of a city”, described by the New York Times as a “fresco in a fresco”, is part of a trio of frescoes by Rivera in San Francisco; it is widely regarded as a big part of the city’s history. Now, however, the sale proposal has hit a major roadblock: on Tuesday, the city’s 11-person supervisory board unanimously voted to launch a landmark procedure over the fresco, resulting in the would protect from a sale. Now only the City’s Historic Preservation Commission can authorize the removal of s. “There is a lot of money in this city,” says Aaron Peskin, a board member who works to protect the mural. “There are better ways out of their mess than a crazy sales plan.” Learn more about the ongoing controversy:
- In the red: the Times notes that SFAI’s debt problems, which amount to nearly $ 20 million, are due to declining enrollments and too many costly expansions. The University of California’s Board of Regents recovered the SFAI’s debt in October, and if the institute cannot buy back its property in six years, the U of C can keep it.
- Famous Potential Buyers: None other than Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas had been introduced by Art Institute board chair Pam Rorke Levy as someone interested in the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art mural in Los Angeles, according to the NOW. A second possibility: the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which would leave the mural on campus as an annex space. However, a representative from SFMOMA says that at this time there are “no plans” to purchase or equip the part.
- Backlash: A “crime against the city’s art and heritage” and “heresy” is how Peskin describes the proposal to Mission Local, while a local workers’ union tells Hyperallergic that the mural “is not a commodity ”, but“ a work of art, donated by a Mexican Artist to a predominantly white school, which serves … as a focal point for complex and ongoing negotiations between artists and art institutions on issues of race, class, access and work. “
- Thrust of the board: Protecting the mural through historic status when it doesn’t even appear to have an interested buyer “would rob SFAI of its main and most valuable asset,” Levy argues. She notes that the school hopes to keep the mural where it is, thanks to funds from a generous patron “who would allow us to preserve, protect and present the mural to the public.”
- How would you even move a $ 50 million mural? With great difficulty, an art restorer tells Los Angeles Times. The process could take up to two years for an expense of between $ 1.5 million and $ 2 million. More info here on how this could be done.
- To look closer. Check out some of the sections of the mural in this short video.
(Read more stories of murals.)
[ad_2]
Source link