Posted on 06/06/2006 8:26:34 PM PDT by Graybeard58
GREENWICH -- A restored Revolutionary War mural painted in the 1930s may not be returned to an elementary school because officials are concerned it is too violent for children.
The mural shows Gen. Israel Putnam, a war hero from Greenwich who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, half-naked and about to be burned at the stake.
He aims a gun at wolves while men around him fight with guns and knives.
"Violence is not something you see at Hamilton Avenue School," said principal Damaris Rau. "And then to have it in the forefront, especially in the lobby, a picture of men hurting each other and killing each other, it really goes against my sense of what children should be exposed to."
The mural, which belongs to the town and once hung in Town Hall, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration in 1935 and painted by James Daugherty of Weston. It was displayed in the gym at Hamilton Avenue school for nearly 60 years until it was removed in 1998 and restored.
It now hangs in the Greenwich Library, but is scheduled to go back to the school when a renovated building reopens next year.
For some residents whose families have attended the school for generations, the mural doesn't belong anywhere else.
"It was a battle scene, but if anything it was an inspirational battle scene," said Marisa Nigiro, a member of the third of four generations of her family to attend the school. "Unfortunately today, we psychoanalyze everything."
But PTA President Laura DiBella, who also attended the school, said former students do not remember the painting as disturbing because it was dirty and hung too high to be seen clearly.
"I thought it was phenomenal growing up, but it was a different time," she said. "There was no Columbine or anything like that, and the schools have really done a lot of work on anti-violence. We are now promoting tolerance, accepting differences and all of that, and it doesn't belong in an elementary school."
She said the painting frightened her sons, ages 3 and 4, when they saw it at the library. She also said a depiction of Native Americans with tomahawks may not be appropriate.
She and Rau have asked parents to look at the mural and weigh in on whether it is too disturbing to hang in the school.
Right. Tomahawk bad, craps table stick, good.
This stuff makes me want to scream.
We are at risk of raising a nation of sheltered little wimps.
I'm willing to bet money that these "concerned" citizens will lobby to have the mural taken from the school - and then the they will SELL it for a tidy profit. Of course, the money will go into an undisclosed fund for "future projects".
After all, it's not really stealing if you're doing it "for the children"...
If all these anti violence policies are so good, why are students more violent than they used to be?
"We are at risk of raising a nation of sheltered little wimps."
I'm beginning to hate the very country I live in.
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Let me get out my extra strength prescription wahhh pills. Take two every 6 hours and if you need anything more, just whine.
bump
I am a practitioner of a very violent sport and I can tell you that trying to convince anyone under 30 to join in is incredibly difficult they just want to play video games.
Ping
I don't suppose it ever crossed their mind to TEACH what the picture might mean?
The sissification of America continues.
Oh my. Guns. Native Americans with tomahawks. It is all evil you know.
Come on pal, save the logic and common sense for someone else. /sarcasm
:D
Is this from Scrappleface?! Schools have lots of violence in them...check the statistics. And children shouldn't be exposed to the facts involving the founding of their nation? What does this school teach about the Revolutionary war...that there was a bit of a struggle, some people weren't nice to each other and then they had a vote?
If that is the mural where is the violence?
The irony of that statment is astounding.
Well, if that's the mural, this story has a silver lining. It's butt-ugly 1930s-style commu-art.
This needs to be banned - for being BAD ART.
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