Does Ms. Collins understand what history IS, and how one can learn from it?
"One school board member, Alison M. Collins, an African-American who wanted the murals destroyed or removed, said that she blamed “outside actors” who “dictate to our children, mine included, what they should see and the stories they should be told. This is not history; it is a remnant from a bygone era.”"
29
Progress, but still not enough.
11
Artwork that is inoffensive to everyone is called a coloring book. Our society's children deserve better. They deserve respect: the recognition that they are budding adults capable of higher-order thinking.
The School Board's continued infantilization of human emotional capabilities does nothing to help us learn or grow, either as students or as a society.
35
Well, not destroying the art is a small step in the right direction. Spending $800,000 to cover them over is a gross mis-use of badly needed educational funds. Since the murals cannot be removed (unlike, say, many of the Confederate statues in southern states) and placed in another area where they can be seen and studied, it seems two choices remain: leave them exposed, or hang curtains across them. The second option is the perhaps the "chicken" option, but it would at least allow people/students to see and learn from them.
But are we not also mis-educating our students? Ms. Sharez Brown, in the article, says the murals "tell the history from the perspective of white people." Sadly, she is mistaken. Victor Arnautoff is not "white people;" he is a specific person with a specific agenda working within a specific time period, and his murals attempt to tell a story that CRITICIZES the elite white people who helped form the United States. Those elites - Washington included - were responsible for the murder of Natives and enslavement of millions of blacks.
There is so much to learn from these murals and their artist --- certainly a school seminar could be used to open the eyes of students. And perhaps some of the local anti-muralist adults should also attend.
43
Back in the day I was greatly offended that a practitioner of so-called “performance art” who smeared her semi-nude body with chocolate and called it art, and an “artist” who exhibited a crucifix submerged in urine and called it art, were subsidized by the US National Endowment for the Arts and thus supported with my/our taxpayer funds.
However, my being offended did not give me the right to hinder their work or keep it from public view.
I did exercise my right not to view her performances or his exhibit, and to stop making contributions to the institutions and organizations that sponsored or hosted their work.
I also stopped my lobbying support for the National Endowment for the Arts since those two examples and quite a few others off-the-wall projects convinced me that the agency had gone, well, nuts. (If a corporation can be a person, surely a government agency can become deranged.)
8
“If the murals depicted the Holocaust, they wouldn’t be in a public school.”
It all depends on what they chose to depict.
If the slaves in the Life of Washington murals were shown being whipped, or the "Dead Indian" being tortured, I would agree that they would be disturbing.
I am willing to bet that the complaining kids (and I really wonder who put the idea in their heads) have seen far worse on TV, the movies, or in video games, and that they didn't flinch.
44
I just got back from a trip to the Louvre. So much there that people could decide to destroy. But I am glad I learned how to think critically and analytically and that the work was there for me and my children to consider the multiplicity and complexity. Can we bring that back to education please? Or we will just have another generation of Trump voters.
26
If you are triggered, it's a good sign you need to go to a group of your peers, a therapist, etc., to work through such issues. i am a proud member of the #MeToo movement/discussion, so when the Brett Kavanaugh isssues came up and I started having intrusive thoughts, I talked to my therapist. People who can't afford that can usually find a group of peers, either IRL or online, I hope.
Another though -- I'm a proud Democratic Socialist, though I vote pragmatically in the USA. I would love a government like that of Norway, where I've spent some time. I've also read much about Norway. But I can't move there. I am pretty far left. I've always voted the Democratic ticket since I've voted. But when the left goes way to far it become autocratic and fascistic -- as does the right when it swings too far.
12
What I learned in my expensive liberal arts education of the late part of the last century is that we can live with contradiction, critique, and complexity. This work is a perfect example to teach young people how to grapple with complexity and tolerate multiple ways of seeing something. I am worried about what my h.s. aged child is inheriting with this thinking in education.
27
Who does not some time find denial the easiest way to deal with reality? Bad modeling,not unlike Trump's lies,for our children.
5
I'm currently a school counseling intern in SFUSD. Having worked closely with many students in this district, most of who are students of color, I want to echo and amplify Mr. Sanchez's words. This conflict completely disregards the very people who are impacted directly by this mural day-in and day-out. Is it not enough that these students have to read from outdated history books that further erase their own culturally diverse history? Is it not enough that these students are unable to receive the same resources as their, mostly white, peers who can attend private schools? Is it not enough that most of these students are being pushed out of their homes because of gentrification?
It's a mural. These are children. Are we really going to prioritize art over humans with actual feelings, thoughts, and valid generational traumas?
3
@ZA
With respect, there is considerable doubt as to whether the kiddies are being organically traumatized or whether they've been agitated by misguided adults. That the art was done by a Russian communist during a period of great social and economic upheaval in the country, and that it actually means to critique the founding patriarchy, are not unimportant concepts. I'm now convinced that nobody in the district has attempted to teach this history, instead preferring to stir up a frenzy of self-righteous iconoclasm.
56
@ZA So far only a small number of people complained. It seems like the majority of residents in SF are aghast at this definition. At what point should a small minority of people be able to override the will of many people, especially if their stated reasoning is completely the opposite of the artist's intent, and how most people perceive it? Even the NAACP came out saying they think the murals should be preserved.
Removing these murals or covering them won't address the systemic problems in education today.
34
I’m reasonably sure $800,000 could be used for educational purposes, in a school system that you say is impoverished.
And the quickest way out of generational trauma is to move forward, the best way to do that is facing the past wrongs not hiding them away. This is the place of this art.
31
Given that the murals serve as a critique, exposing the lies and hypocrisy of America's founding fathers, the murals at issue are certainly a great opportunity for teaching American history. Further, the frescoes have aesthetic value even while some of the content is provocative. Brilliant.
The schools I attended in East L.A. were known for being hotbeds of social protest/upheaval: student walk-outs in the '60s and '90s ( regarding prop 187 and which I participated in). And, when there was something at school that some/many students did not appreciated, we took action.
First, we voiced our dissatisfaction to teachers and/or administrators. If that didn't change anything, we took action, which usually involved some form of civil disobedience, i.e., criminalized social rebellion.
I know what my teenage self, as well as my peers, would have done in a similar situation as here: get a spray can and "cross-out" GW and the white settlers in the frescoes.
This was done to Spanish Conquistadores depicted on the historical mural that adorned my high school. No board meetings required.
Young students of color: Do NOT do anything that is illegal, or that detracts from your education, since the feelings of students of color aren't generally regarded as the usual teenage angst, e.g., Holden Caulfield. The world does NOT care about your feelings. Stay focused. Use the mural as motivation, to empower you, i.e., "meet me at the dead cracker." Just sayin'.
2
Oy vey! People, there are more important problems than this!
11
This is reminiscent of the Taliban destroying the giant Buddhas.
49
So painting over the Arnautoff murals would have been censorship but concealing them from view isn't? Wow. Five San Francisco politicians at their moronic best. What's next, attempting to disguise the phallic nature of Coit Tower by placing two radar domes at it base?
Ready, fire, aim, gang. Try to remember that your bone-headedness will live on in history as your legacy.
26
Censorship is ugly, no matter what form it takes. It's uglier than anything these murals depict. The need for some to impose their own morality on others--for that is what censorship does-- should be anathema to any free-thinking, progressive society, which is what San Francisco was in the years of my residency there. Yet there are now SF school board members who desire to censor this art by painting over the murals or otherwise covering them. This is, for me anyway, frankly shocking. That their desire is based on the alleged need to protect the racial sensibilities of students will surely fuel the Right's derision of liberals and progressives as misguided, craven "snowflakes" consumed by identity politics. Thankfully, a majority of the board regained enough of a belief in the need to resist censorship whenever and wherever it rears its ugly face.
15
@Jamie Nichols writes "Thankfully, a majority of the board regained enough of a belief in the need to resist censorship whenever and wherever it rears its ugly face."
Covering them over, whether permanently or temporarily, is still censorship.
So while their permanent destruction has been avoided for now, it's not a compromise solution that many of us are willing to accept.
10
This article is testimony to the ideological blinders that so often accompany political correctness.
That the mural was created by a Communist artist should have been the first clue that it might have been intended to reveal weak spots in America’s self-delusional story of being the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The mural, which portrays Washington’s slaves and a dead Indian, shows just how vicious and inhuman America’s founders were, committing genocide against the Native Americans and building America’s wealth and prosperity on the backs of slaves.
The mural could have provided a penetrating teaching moment, but instead will be covered so a few individuals won’t be offended by the pictorial truths exposed by the artist. It’s a pity no one has bothered to explain to the offended parties the powerful message that could be built in to the school curriculum by using the mural as a teaching tool.
31
50 years ago, there was a similar controversy about the Washington murals. Some radical black students wanted the murals destroyed. In the end a compromise was arrived at.
This is a link to the mural that Dewey Crumpler created as a response to the Washington murals.
https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2019/07/dewey-crumpler-multi-ethnic-heritage-detail-1024x574.png
The mural is in a prominent place within the school.
The below link is an interview with the artist.
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/san-francisco-mural-victor-arnautoff-dewey-crumpler-1596409
From the introduction: “This Artist Painted the Black Radical Response to the George Washington Slaveholder Murals. Here’s Why He Stands Against Destroying Them
Dewey Crumpler explains the history of controversy over Victor “Arnautoff's 'Life of George Washington' in San Francisco, which are slated to be destroyed.”
13
@Perverse. Thank you for the excellent link. It adds a whole additional layer of historical context.
4
Good luck, America. The politically correct Democrat police are taking you to a place you definitely do not want to go. Now, even art commissioned by the Franklin Roosevelt administration is being censored because it does not conform to the strident political and social standards of Democrats, liberals and progressives. Leave it to the People's Republic of San Francisco (and California) to attempt to remake the world as they would have it be.
12
@paul "the strident political and social standards of Democrats, liberals and progressives"
I can assure you that the vast majority of Democrats, liberals, and progressives in San Francisco do not support censorship, whether of the George Washington High School murals, or any other kind. This is being promoted by a tiny minority, and discussion of a recall of the entire Board of Education is underway.
(And the fact that you use "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" and refer to "the People's Republic of San Francisco (and California)" exposes your bias toward the whole situation, plainly for everyone to see.)
16
I’d point out to the folks on the Right who’re chortling about this as one more example of leftish censorship and political correctness that you guys aren’t exactly what you’d call cheerleaders for free speech, artistic freedom, and showing history as it was. I mean, seriously, the Texas School Board does far worse every year. At least.
And lefties...if you find yourselves holding hands with righties on these sorts of issues, probably want to stop and rethink a little.
Oh, and just so’s we know? These murals were painted by an artist who tried to show the brutality and hypocrisy that was behind so much of the ol’ American Dream. Those statues of Lee and Forrest and the rest went up, specifically went up, to support segregation.
8
@Robert It took me a little while to see what you were saying with your second point: "And lefties...if you find yourselves holding hands with righties on these sorts of issues, probably want to stop and rethink a little."
One of the arguments put forth by those who want to whitewash the murals is that since there are people on the right want the mural to stay, other liberals are wrong for not assuming the extreme position of desiring its destruction. I cannot support that brand of breathtaking inanity.
Once I was berated with that argument on Twitter after voicing my support for the murals, I decided to donate more for the mural's preservation.
5
The murals are art. They were intended by the artist to provoke anger at the racist views held by our first president. Only stupid people would want to destroy such art instead of using it to communicate to future generations about the sins of our past. Whitewashing it is not the answer.
22
Somewhere, George Orwell is smiling.
20
“If the murals depicted the Holocaust, they wouldn’t be in a public school.”
That is *so true*. And if they were made of pudding they'd be dripping down the walls.
But they don't and they aren't.
8
I'm a licensed Psychologist.
Why won't you admit the trauma is real?
My daughter can't go there.
Genocide!
Genocide!
Genocide!
2
Maybe the kids of Wash High should vote on it?
1
Melting snowflakes threatening to wash away our history.
1984?
9
This PC reasoning would also have Auschwitz demolished as it offends Jews. Whitewashing history to protect sensitive minds heightens the chances of atrocities being repeated as memories of these events are stifled. It is not better to ‘know nothing’.
15
@Christopher The last thing Jews want is to demolish Auschwitz. Jews would rather that everyone see Auschwitz, so the Holocaust isn't repeated.
4
Let’s call this decision what it is: Stupid. The works are called “Art”. It’s supposed to make you think. Object to it! Praise it! Discuss it! Destroy it? Cover it? What kind of message are you sending about a child’s education?
17
People are babies and need to get over themselves. If you are sooooo offended by a mural painted in a very different age of cultural norms, you should live in a box. The stupid side of liberalism is on par with that of conservatism.
42
America is as badly in need of reminders of its white supremacist roots as it ever was. No better place for this than in a high school.
Having said that, I can empathize with any family of color that would rather not have to see that imagery everyday.
I'd put it to the students to decide.
But destroying the mural? That's as idiotic, misguided and dangerous as re-writing Huckleberry Finn and pretending those words were never used.
6
@KATHLEEN It's the community's school, not the kids'. They're only temporary inhabitants within its walls. And if it's that big a deal, then the kids should attend a different high school.
7
Imagine Jews choosing to censor an artwork depicting the horrors of the holocaust, and you get an inkling of the ignorance and blindness to history of the members of this school board.
16
A Russian communist made art critical of America's founders, but somehow that isn't critical enough of slavery for the school board? Wait, what? Who runs the San Francisco Fire Department? Arsonists?
13
We live in a country where school kids undergo mass shooting drills in the event they are gunned down by someone with an assault rifle, yet people are up in arms over whether they might get too upset over seeing a mural that gives a brutal yet honest depiction of our nation’s history.
Just another indicator as to how screwed up the U.S. is right now.
23
Let’s take a moment and peer into the future, say, fifty years from now. A controversy has erupted over the existence of a mural of President Donald J. Trump in a public school. As a member of the School Board, you must participate in the decision of whether to keep or destroy the mural. What position would you take, and what are your arguments supporting your position?
Think about it.
1
@Mercutio
To be a proper analogy to this situation, it would be an anti-Trump mural, showing Trump as smug or angry while being surrounded by potentially upsetting scenes of (for example) children being separated from their mothers and put in cages.
16
@Mercutio First there would have to be a Donald J. Trump High School built where it was appropriate to have a Life of Trump mural painted.
1
I wonder how much teaching about the murals is being done, who painted them, what were the artists trying to express, the historical and present contexts. Destroying the physical artifacts of history instead of in-the present annotation or comments seems unfortunate.
Who burned the library of Alexandria, murdered Hypatia and why?
Moon landing hoaxes, climate deniers, flat earthers, I hope all this does not represent the future.
6
A lot can be said to interpret the controversy on explanatory panels for future generations. Erasing history is the strategy of groups like ISIS and the Taliban. We should now not try to cover up the existence of the present disagreement.
Rob Dahl GWHS '54
8
Look at alllll those old white men lining up to voice their opinions...maybe it's time to sit down and listen?
How is this so difficult for people to understand?
This isn't a book-burning, it's a wall that public school students are walking by every weekday. You choose when to open a book, or a teacher guides you through a required book that offers the truth of history. These students don't get to choose their school or their hallways. If they want to avoid the images, they have to do so consciously which forces them to consider the ideas yet again, even if they don't physically walk by them.
But sure, let these (generally) privileged adults decide for the kids that it's best if they face the horrific past for POC in this country every single day....instead of replacing it with a mural BY a POC that shows their perspective of the american experience AND imparts a hopeful future for everyone.
We should look for the truth in our mythology and past, but this mural does not have the balance of a hopeful future that would create a healthier environment for these young, bright kids.
1
@Ben W You may want to double check the composition of the SF School Board. http://www.sfusd.edu/en/about-sfusd/board-of-education/overview-and-members.html
9
@Ben W There are already murals at the school doing exactly what you propose. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZEMpyvdAXQ
where the artist who created them defends the original George Washington murals.
11
Here's an idea: invite proposals to reimagine the murals in situ (to reframe them in ways that reflect current values, to preserve them while shielding modern sensibilities, et cetera).
With 13 murals, different approaches might even be proposed for different pieces.
This is a thorny problem that requires creative solutions -- let those solutions come from the creative community, not bureaucrats or angry mobs.
1
School is a place of learning. Redacting historical truth has no place in schools. This mural, and many other murals and artworks like them were placed in public spaces—and schools are public spaces—to keep history alive. This mural, in particular, represents the truth about how our nation was founded. It was founded on genocide and slavery. And the remnants of that foundation is the foundation of the racism and bigotry that exists and is currently growing right now, today, all across this country. You can cover it up. But it's fangs are growing sharper day by day. Only recognition of the truth can change this world for the better. Should we cover up the mass shootings? Hide them from view? Redact them from the news? Or should we fight to change this ongoing legacy of the founding of this country? I say we should redact the system that puts profit, conquest and greed over the needs of people and the planet we share.
13
This one is actually a little more complicated for me. I am strongly in favor of free speech and against censoring art, but personal autonomy and choice is also very important to me. As an example, I don't think the government should ban graphic sexual images (of consenting adults), but I do think that tricking or forcing someone to view these images is also a serious violation of that person's rights. In short, I support people's right to view art if they choose and to not view it if they choose.
This mural is very critical of US history, and is remarkable for its time. It most certainly doesn't glorify slavery or genocide - rather, it makes it clear that whenever we talk about founding fathers and constitutions and manifest destiny, we need to also know there are dead people and people in chains. It's an important work of art.
Here's the problem - are we forcing students to view these images, perhaps on their way to math exam, as a condition of receiving an education at their local public high school? I understand this is complicated - protestors, for example, are allowed to display images in public outside my workplace even if I find them objectionable -but they don't get to hang them on my workplace walls. Where does this fall?
I understand moving these murals to a permanent display elsewhere is impractical. I'm strongly opposed to destroying them. Covering them with regular opportunities for voluntary viewing may be the best we can do here.
5
What is the purpose of art on a school wall? Is it to remind students of the suffering of their ancestors every time they change classes, to encase them in a museum of never changing history? Or perhaps it is to enhance their connection to the place where they spend the majority of their day, not only learning history but trying to create a future? I propose it is the latter. If this second rate art doesn’t meet that standard anymore then it is time to put it in a museum or a government building for anyone who wants to reminisce with it. There are untold opportunities for students to learn this history in and out of class. If true history (high art or not) were painted on the walls of OUR living spaces we’d never get out of bed. From whence comes such passion for forcing it on students?
3
@Andrea You can call it "second rate art," but that is only your opinion.
Both these murals and others by the artist (and other artists around the Bay Area) from the WPA Era are considered artistic treasures.
10
I taught at Washington High School for a year in the ‘90s. The school as a whole is a wonderful example of WPA architecture, and the murals are a highlight.
If the choice is between destroying them and covering them up, then by all means cover them. But it does seem a bit like whitewashing to me. Personally I’d rather teach students about George Washington than George Whitewashington.
90
@Matt Y there is nothing stopping teachers teaching students about the real George Washington - since when does that lesson require an enormous mural in your face on a daily basis?
The history of the United States is riddled with horrific injustices and violent struggles. So teach them! Recommend books that share the experience of the oppressed, that shed light on the truth. Organize field trips to museums or historical sights that encourage students to peer into the dark past and painful moments, to become emotionally vulnerable through a connection to the past.
But forcing them into an environment where that reminder of the past is ever present seems exhausting.
People mention Holocaust memorials...well no one is asking high school students to go them daily for their lessons.
The murals are a great opportunity for teaching moments, and a daily (hourly) reminder to the students of the dark side of our history.
Even covering them up teaches students that they can whitewash thier faults. Faults can't be whitewashed, they need to be torn out, root and branch.
Keep the murals and teach from them.
93
@Prodigal Son Washington freed his slaves upon his death. Jefferson did not and had children with his slave/concubine Sally Hemmings. Indians fought back when white European settlers took their traditional lands. The US Army was sent to kill and drive them off. This is American history. These murals are teaching high school kids important knowledge. Leave them be.
22
After looking at the mural that is visible in the article, I do understand that the theme is 'anti-racist'. It is also a depiction of history, warts and all. Yes, our history has some offensive parts. So, does Mark Sanchez recommend white-washing our history so it doesn't offend? I take issue with his comment that if the murals depicted the Holocaust, they wouldn't be in a public school. Why not? Would you want to deny that it happened or just gloss it over?
34
“This is not history; it is a remnant from a bygone era.” And yes this is an example of dehumanizing and furthering white supremacy!
My only question is do these people actually think about what they see in context, or do they react without any intellect at all. It’s hard to tell. What is easy to see is that they would like to destroy one of the few examples of public art that is critical of our own history, using the tools of ignorance.
19
The art is critical of white rule. And when I see it, I get angry at our blindness to others and I want to join the folks who are trying to change things. That may have been the intent of the people who put it up: to get students engaged in changing the emotional climate in this country. Maybe that has happened now. The line, "Meet me at the dead Indian" is certainly chilling. It means that the students are no longer seeing the art as pertinent. So. Have a contest open to artists who make tapestries, to design one that will suit today's young folks who don't want and perhaps don't need the message of the original. You aren't painting over it. You're walling it up. You're hiding a truth that has outlived its public life. But you're not brave (sorry - courageous) enough to just do it. What a cop out. Furthermore, you are making this lame gesture for nearly a million dollars. Get real! There are hundreds of living students who could use materials this kind of money would buy.
1
The murals are a document that may serve as evidence in a law suit for reparations.
2
This is great news! Now they can use that proposed $600K budget for education!
3
@Diva This article is now quoting $815,000! When did that increase happen? I say follow the money and investigate who would’ve gotten this contract and if there is any connection with the board.
3
The Confederate statues were commissioned to promote a lie.
These murals were intended to contradict a lie- that our founding fathers were complicit in the American Genocide, and the mass enslavement of African-Americans.
When we equate the two, we are saying that we can't educate our own children to appreciate the difference. The murals are a "teachable moment", especially every time a child tells another "I'll meet you by the dead Indian." The progressives in the 1930's were facing their own moral reckoning (one that is eerily similar to ours), and we need to meet them face-to-face, not shun them.
Shunning the socialist muralists from the thirties puts us right in with the reactionaries who wanted to censor them.
I don't want to be there. Please try to understand the work, not equate it with racism. What if it were a Rivera mural?
Would it still be looked at that way? One board member said if it was about the Holocaust, it wouldn't be allowed. We couldn't show work like that to school children.
Why not?
26
Isn't all history remnants from bygone eras?
17
What is next, banning "degenerate art"? Brings back memories of an awful era.
14
Oh, for heaven's sake. What is wrong with the SF Board of Education? This is exactly what makes me pull my hair out as a native San Franciscan, and a liberal one at that. Too many of the City's leaders get so caught up in political correctness that they lose sight of history, of art, of culture. That mural MUST not be covered in any way. This group needs a good finger-shaking to come to its senses, and that includes its supporters. Keep the mural intact with a plaque that paraphrases what Carol Pogash wrote in this piece: "His (Victor Arnautoff's) frescoes were intended to be critical of the first president, and by extension the country's treatment of African Americans and Native Americans." Geez...
28
School Board Member Alison Collins said, "This is not history; it is a remnant from a bygone era.”
Um, what is history if it is not a remnant of a bygone era?
If those students are going to be "traumatized" by seeing this mural then they should be institutionalized now because they will never be able to function in society.
And where does it say in the constitution that people have a right to never be offended by something. And do we now need to censor everything down to the most sensitive, easily offended person in the country? I guess that means we need to never see an image relating to the holocaust, or any war ever, or starving people, or homeless people. Where does it end?
24
What a silly waste of time and energy! As an old French immigrant, who has voted Democrat since he became a United States Citizen (one of the best days of my life) and was born in Marseille three months before V-E Day, I find this all too reminiscent of the going-one’s in Italy and Germany in the 1930’s. A little silliness in the pursuit of righteousness is cute, but this is alarming.
17
Boycotting art, destroying art, canceling memberships and subscriptions in order to repress art. Where will this toxic ideology end?
13
Can someone explain to me how people can be for reparations for slavery, but against murals that show that this country was founded on slavery?
19
Some people find something offensive. Some people do not find something offensive. Who wins? You can erase history by covering up a painting but you can learn from it.
3
$800,000 to cover art?
Do something positive with the money!
Design a poster to explain + teach, print a small brochure.
A school is there to teach, not to cover up ugly history it does not want to see.
(Our books would be full of white pages)
10
This story is of minor importance considering the many other more pressing issues that our country is facing. And yet, for some reason, the battle to keep these historical murals from being destroyed by a school board of seven people leaves me feeling depressed.
The previous articles have made it clear that the murals were not intended to celebrate slavery or the divine right of Whites to conquer Native Americans. By all accounts, the artist was a committed communist and he was critical of the treatment of Native Americans and African Americans and his murals show a more nuanced view of George Washington's life than most art that existed when the murals were painted. The murals evoke strong feelings, some of which are uncomfortable, whether you are caucasian, African American or Native American. The murals also cause you to reflect on a great historical hero and understand more deeply his greatness and his human failings. That is what great murals should do, and in this case, the murals were created to remind viewers of the sins of the past, not to celebrate them.
The murals are, in my opinion, great historical art and this current school board's vote to first destroy, and now cover up the murals,
reflects badly on their judgment. The murals should be kept on display and students should be encouraged to learn about the artist and what he is trying to show to viewers. The school board failed their history and art appreciation assignments and should resign or be replaced.
38
I recall the Taliban destroying ancient Buddhas which they considered blasphemous. Thank goodness the Taliban on the San Francisco School Board were barely outvoted. Covering up the historic mural also grates.
The proposal to put up a curtain that could periodically be opened could lead to studied and thoughtful appreciation of this beautiful, and provocative artwork.
22
Maybe some San Francisco art lovers could band together and contribute to a modern school building so that the old building can be turned into a museum. When was GW last renovated? But hey, why talk about infrastructure for public education when you can fight about ideology? Surely Victor Arnautoff would see the irony in how our racist history has trapped the people of San Francisco into fighting each other over his murals instead of working collectively to improve public education.
I empathize with both sides of this discussion and find it (or at least the media coverage of it) unnecessarily polarizing. It’s true that the images express resistance to racism, and it’s true that the images would be unwelcome in any modern multiracial school if they were proposed today, with good reason. Is it impossible for people to hold these two ideas in their head at the same time? Can’t we agree that the murals are not Confederate statues, and that the impulse to remove them from a school is not the same as that to burn books in the town square? The distortions appear to be more of a problem for the people who want to keep the art—do they have any empathy for those who want it out of their kids’ school? If so, it doesn’t show in the stories I’m reading—they come across as privileged scolds.
5
Not sure if the analogy to book burning is accurate. I can choose not read a book, not to buy it. These students can't choose not to "see" this artwork. It is an unavoidable part of their "micro-climate."
Historically, the artwork does not "represent" "slavery" or "colonization." It "represents" a period in the 1930s when unemployment was at 30%, the economy was non-functional and the government intervened with a massive fiscal outlay to help people and re-start the economy. In other words, it is indicative of the 1930s, not the 1790s.
That said, I am not sure just how "teachable" these murals can be. The people who most need to be taught - the MAGA-wearing white supremacists - are not going to hear that message. All a mural like this does is make them long for bygone days.
And not to put too fine a point on it - did they really have heating/air conditioning duct-work on Washington's plantation back then? Apparently, nobody cared much about htis art work when the building got a heating upgrade.
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@DaveInNewYork "And not to put too fine a point on it - did they really have heating/air conditioning duct-work on Washington's plantation back then? Apparently, nobody cared much about htis [sic] art work when the building got a heating upgrade."
If you look carefully, you'll see that the frescoes are painted to incorporate the already-existing heating ducts in various ways.
5
Reason has prevailed in San Francisco, at least for now. Much can be learned from this.
First of all, people of every race and nationality have experienced defeat and oppression. It is unsettling to be reminded of these things, even as adults.
We naturally try to protect young children from images that they are too young to understand. On my living room wall I have mostly pictures of seascapes and fish. The illustrated histories are kept on a higher shelf.
However, there is a point in life when children become adults. Continuing to treat them as infants is harmful, and it’s not like we don’t have enough childish adults as it is.
And this brings me to my main point. Nothing changes for the better unless people tell the truth about how things really are. Victor Arnautoff told that truth, and he had the help of San Francisco school officials in telling it. There were most likely parents on either side, but in the end the truth was told.
It’s unsettling to tell the truth, when the infantilizers and obscurantists are after you from every side. Arnautoff’s story is important, and well worth study by the children passing through the halls of George Washington High School.
And the most important lesson? Life is full of supposedly well-meaning people who want shut you up, and who don’t want people to think that things might be different than they first thought.
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@Global Charm Exactly. This isn't the George Washington Kindergarten & Grammar School we're talking about.
6
While less well known than the renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera, Arnautoff assisted and collaborated with him on various projects. Rivera, an outspoken critic of colonialism, frequently painted scathing images depicting the European colonization of Mexico such as "La Conquista Española De la Nación Azteca” which hangs in the National Palace, the seat of the federal government in Mexico City (https://images.app.goo.gl/K7E7atbVzewCKhYX9)
Notice the stylistic and thematic similarities between Rivera's and Arnautoff's work? In both artist's works there are slaves being forced to work in the fields. In Rivera's mural, there are several being lynched in the background. I wonder if the school board would advocate painting over Rivera's work, and if they think Rivera wanted to glorify the actions of the conquistadors.
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I suppose the answer is to both archive them and to move them. I think they could be teaching moments, but this would take a certain sophistication on the part of the high school students.
A friend of mine, who is an artist, had a mural painted over on the side of a a public apartment building any years ago in Tampa, FL. It did not depict, any figures -- it was a subtropical, colorful landscape at sunset. The residents loved it. A city commissioner decided that it was offensive. The residents did not feel it was offensive. That didn't matter.
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@Shirley Adams They are frescoes, painted when the plaster walls were wet. Moving them would be very difficult.
3
Eliminating history, through censorship is not the answer. Make no mistake, this is censorship. Teaching history, not Social Studies, and learning from the past is the answer.
Denying our history is not only wrong but dangerous. Who decides which part of history did not exist or should be ignored? We have to be the adults in the room, teaching history with all its warts so future generations learn and hopefully do better.
34
This whole episode seems to be a sad characterization of the state of public education in San Francisco and so many other places now. The fact that elected school board members are unable or unwilling to take the long view and allow themselves to learn what the paintings actually represent is a clarion call for making art history part of the curriculum.
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I really don't understand how, in an effort to sanitize history so that it does not offend, you are able to help those who's ancestors were marginalized by that history. Isn't learning about the oppression and genocide of people of color an important part of understanding our past. Isn't a school setting exactly where this conversation should occur? Isn't having the conversation the best way to heal as a society?
The school is named after George Washington and the murals portray his life and times critically. Perhaps the next step is that the school will be renamed? When does it end? This is scary stuff.
72
@AM writes: "Perhaps the next step is that the school will be renamed?"
A former Board of Ed member, now a Supervisor, once proposed to do exactly that.
3
I am not a fan of identity politics run amuck, of which this episode is yet another example. It seems to me that the loudmouths on the school board are not very different from the loudmouths on the Texas school textbook selection committee. Covering up this art is not a great solution but is much better than destroying it. That said, I don't particularly trust the school to take care that the murals are not damaged. As another comment noted, murals can and have been moved, so I hope money can be found for this task. Have high-quality photographs been taken?
26
Thankful to hear they won't be destroyed, but shaking my head at the planned expenditure of more than $800,000 to cover up the work, when you know darn well that a different committee will vote, sooner or later, to uncover them again.
38
This is a good decision: destroying art to satisfy the demands of the moment is not a great idea.
Also, for one thing, the critics of the mural seem to be assuming that representation in art is the same thing as advocacy. Is it disturbing to see a dead Native American in this mural? Obviously. But was the intention of the muralist to advocate white European supremacy? Rather doubtful.
Better to keep the mural, and perhaps integrate it into the school's art and history curricula. Clearly it is a piece that successfully generates discussion about difficult issues, which is a good thing.
And if the school district simply can't balance the conflicting perspectives, perhaps it could even be moved to a museum.
20
Censorship has always sprung from those who have appointed themselves the guardians of how society should behave. And it is always a power play or actually a form of cleansing, of purifying moral, cultural, social or political "impurities". In this sense, the destruction of the murals is no different than Nixon ordering the painting over of Depression era murals in California post offices because of their Communist message. It's a permanent loss and when society has moved on and times have changed, the murals can't be brought back. Fortunately this time, masking the murals can be reversed hopefully in the not too distant future.
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A few comments have mentioned moving the murals to a museum. This is much, much easier said than done. Frescoes are painted directly on wet plaster, meaning that they are an integral part of the wall structure. And these paintings are huge. Detachment would be both prohibitively expensive and risk irreversible damage to the artwork.
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@Nikki Museums throughout the world have frescoes from the Renaissance. Difficult, yes. Expensive, yes- impossible, no. SF has a great number of massively wealthy people who could contribute. Actor Danny Glover, who spoke out in favor of saving the mural, could enlist others from the film industry. Moving such work has been done before.
13
@Anne Hubbard Most Renaissance frescoes were removed through the strappo method, which involves gluing canvas to the surface of the fresco and peeling away the outer layer of plaster. There is an extremely high risk of damaging the artwork and extensive restoration is often necessary. That is why the preferred method these days is removing the entire wall. Here, we have 13 murals covering a large expanse of the high school's inner walls. So we're talking tens of millions of dollars just for removal, not taking into account that a good portion of the school would have to be repaired/rebuilt (and the temporary loss of desperately needed classrooms). I'm not saying it's impossible, but "just move them to a museum" is an overly simplistic solution to a complicated problem.
12
"His frescoes were intended to be critical of the first president, and by extension the country’s treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans. Three of the panels are at issue: one showing Washington’s slaves at Mount Vernon, another showing a Native American with a scalp dangling from his waist, and a third showing a dead Native American at Washington’s feet."
Given that the art is a CRITICISM of the racism in the country from its inception, I find many of the comments in the article in favor of permanently removing it/destroying it to be at odds with the intent of the art. They are a reminder that racism was part of the founding fabric, art that depicts racism rather than racist art. In that sense, I see it as different from the confederate statues, which were idols to the confederacy, glorification of the lost cause rewrite of history, erected during the Jim Crow era and civil rights struggle in the 20th century with intent to keep non-whites, especially blacks (I say white so I can say black) as 2nd class citizens.
What I do wonder about is the practice of saying Native American and African American but then feel it is okay to say 'white' - be consistent or don't make a big deal about it.
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@Me. You are exactly correct .
The activists and the politicized school board are willfully ignorant of what the murals actually depict .
They claim they embrace white supremacy when in fact they do exactly the opposite . The murals artistically and sensitively paint a story of the unjust existence slavery and the gross mistreatment of Native Americans . Exactly the type of art these young adults should be exposed to in a teaching environment in a high school .
Depiction of injustice ( as in the murals ) is not advocacy of injustice , for God’s sake . Picasso didn’t paint Guernica because he approved of the destruction of that village by the Nazis !
Seems the SF School Board needs to go back to school themselves to get a proper perspective on the interpretation of art and history
9
Still not enough. Keep the art uncovered, teach in classes why what happened was wrong.
109
Good grief. Wonderful murals. Lucky schools. Keep the art.
114
This is where I get lost in the fight because this is not only censorship but it is censorship of a message that does not get told frequently enough. These murals were created by a person who was attempting to subvert the sanitized narrative that the Founding Fathers were above reproach in a time when that type of subversive message was not well received. He created imagery that is difficult to view because America has a difficult history once you get past the sanitized view, especially with respect to minorities. This includes the enslavement of African Americans and far too many dead Native Americans. I imagine that this school was one of the first in the nation telling that story simply by having these murals on its walls. Why do we now punish the artist who was bold enough to take that nuanced approach simply the serve the god of political correctness? What replaces it now to better prepare these young people for life? White walls? How does that forward any narrative? Now these children are free to believe that ole George chopped down the cherry tree and never told a lie.
149
I agree with Mr. Glover on this- to an extent. They are offensive, they are also a part of our history. Perhaps some SF tech donor could get the wall removed and placed in a museum. I don't see WPA murals in the same light as confederate statues. Those statues were placed as an active and vicious political statement. Don't wipe out history. Look at it and see how far we've come, and how very much farther we have to go.
18
@Anne Hubbard
"I don't see WPA murals in the same light as confederate statues. Those statues were placed as an active and vicious political statement"
Which would be protected free speech under the 1st amendment, right? As someone has said earlier, the answer to statues/ artwork some people might find offensive is... put up more statues/artwork. The answer to offensive speech is--- more speech, not censorship.
If these school children in SF are going to be so traumatized that they cannot function because they see an honest portrayal of George Washington, warts and all, then they will never be able to function as adults in a free society. No one has a Constitutional right to never be offended by something
88
Seems like a school may be the wrong venue for these murals nowadays. Can they be moved to a museum for preservation and education in a more appropriate context?
7
@David "Seems like a school may be the wrong venue for these murals nowadays."
Where better place than George Washington High School to have 13 murals depicting "The Life of Washington" ???
It's a high school, not a kindergarten. And they're frescoes, painted on the walls when the plaster was wet—not so easy to move.
5
Just can't move forward now without all our clutter, can we? America is the past now.
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@RY
On to China?
1