Posted on 07/05/2019 1:21:37 PM PDT by Syncro
San Francisco will spend up to $600,000 to paint over historical artwork at a public school depicting the life of George Washington, a mural once seen as educational and innovative but now criticized as racist and degrading for its depiction of black and Native American people.
The “Life of Washington” was painted by Victor Arnautoff, one of the foremost muralists in the San Francisco area during the Depression. The San Francisco School Board’s decision to paint over the 83-year-old mural is prompting some to worry that other artwork from the so-called New Deal era could face a similar fate because of changing sensitivities.
In addition to depicting Washington as a soldier, surveyor and statesman, the 13-panel, 1,600-sqaure foot mural at George Washington High School contains images of white pioneers standing over the body of a Native American and slaves working at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.
The board’s decision last week comes at a time when the legacies of Washington and other historical figures who owned slaves are being re-examined. Some cities have changed the names of streets and buildings named after slave owners.
*snip*.
“We on the left ought to welcome the honest portrayal,” Walker said, adding that destroying a piece of art “is the worst way we can deal with historic malfeasance, historic evils.”
*snip*
Lope Yap, Jr., vice president of the Washington High School Alumni Association and a 1970 graduates, disagreed, saying when he was a student and saw the mural he was “awed by the subtle ways Arnautoff was able to critique American history.” He said the depictions are “treasures, priceless art” and painting it over is tantamount to pretending the history depicted never happened.
(Excerpt) Read more at staradvertiser.com ...
A sad commentary, re writing History over and over again
What a shame.
These panels could be cut out and put in a Museum of American History
Then the walls replaced.
Better the mural should be left as it is.
American Taliban
I CANT WAIT UNTIL THEY GET THE BIG ONE, there is promise in the past few days
How can it cost $600,000 to paint over a mural? I’ll do it for $60,000.
Next up, will be a move to delete the name of George Washington school. There must be liberal outrage that liberal San Francisco would have a school named for George Washington in the first place.
Among the new names to be considered, should be the Obama Academy. Do they have a Harvey Milk school yet there in SF?
Most of the cost is for EPA studies on how to destroy the painting without “polluting” the area. Typical California.
Don't they usually defend art regardless how offensive it may be?
Michael Savage is 100% correct when he calls this tainted piece of earth “San Fran Sicko”. No amount of paint, you weirdos, is going to obliterate the history of this nation, whether you snowflakes like it or not. If I had my druthers, I’d paint YOU over, you human stains on this country.
Will you be using CARB approved paint?
American Taliban: YESSS!!!
If we let them destroy our Founders, this nation will follow suit shortly.
Our public dollars went to pay for that mural, and our public dollars will now be demanded to pay the $600k.
When are we going to start to fight back?
This is horse ‘stuff’.
Yes
Thanks for clearing that up
No doubt this painting was commissioned by a federal public works program from the New Deal. So are the lefties trying to erase the legacy of FDR and the New Deal too? These revisionist lefties should realize that FDR was every bit the segregationist as any southern Democrat of that time.
“Our public dollars”
I don’t think we should provide any such “racist” portraits to the city.
We are very close to the day it is demanded we tear down all statues of Washington, Jefferson and every other glorious founder.
Very, very close. And when it co,es we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves
The limited intelligence of these “offended” types is really someting.
People like Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves was one of the people seeking slavery’s abolition.
Will we ever hear words of forgiveness, of understanding from these people?
Not until they get paid off, I guess.
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