arts
Updated 15th January 2021
San Francisco officials move to block potential sale of historic Diego Rivera mural
Written by Christina Maxouris, CNN
Contributors Oscar Holland, CNNSarah Moon, CNN
Officials have moved to block the potential sale of a mural by Mexican painter Diego Rivera, after the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) indicated that selling the valuable artwork might help alleviate its financial worries.
The city s Board of Supervisors this week voted unanimously in favor of giving the mural landmark status, meaning the art college would not be able to make it available to prospective buyers.
The mural, titled The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City
Diego Rivera s The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City at the San Francisco Art Institute Photo: Steve Rhodes
The proposed sale of a famed Diego Rivera mural at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), which administrators have said would raise much needed funds for the struggling school, has drawn criticism from local artists and city leaders, leading to a last minute move to protect it. The
Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City was commissioned by the university in 1931 and is now valued at $50 million. “This is an incredibly unconscionable decision,” the artist and SFAI alumn Catherine Opie wrote in an open letter. “Of course, I want SFAI to survive, but not by gutting one of the most important artworks in the history of the institution.”
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SF Supervisors Move to Make Diego Rivera Mural a Landmark; SFAI Says Please Not Yet
The SF Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to initiate a process to designate the famed Diego Rivera mural at the San Francisco Art Institute s Chestnut Street campus a city landmark, in order to prevent it from being sold and removed. But the financially strapped school is begging the board not to go down this path right now, because even if they don t sell the mural they need to use the asset to secure a loan.
As one of three murals that Rivera painted in San Francisco between 1931 and 1940, the 1931 mural titled