Contentious mural on public display
High school to allow brief viewing of doomed fresco at center of fight
A historic San Francisco mural — sentenced to death row for its depiction of slavery and the murder of a Native American — will be open to the public for the first time Thursday, but only for two hours.
The mural about the life of George Washington, painted on a wall of the eponymous high school, has been a topic of national debate over what is art, what is history and what is censorship since the San Francisco Board of Education voted unanimously June 25 to destroy the mural.
Now, the public will be able to see the mural by the late artist Victor Arnautoff from 1 to 3 p.m. at George Washington High School, at 600 32nd Ave.
“Access is limited to specific areas and will promptly close at 3 p.m.,” said a brief statement from the school district, which did not respond to requests for comment about why the doors are opening — and why so briefly.
The decision to destroy the mural is “about righting a wrong,” school board member
Alison Collins said in June, as she joined the unanimous 60 vote to paint over the artwork.
“It might be art, and it can also be racist; it can be both,” Collins said.
Students were offended by the images, according to the board, whose members said that destroying the piece would be a way to repair racial injustices against African Americans and Native Americans.
“This mural is not teaching students about the history of slavery and indigenous genocide under George Washington or other white settlers,” said Nancy Truong, a 2013 graduate of the school who spoke at the meeting that decided the mural’s fate. “Instead, it is teaching students to normalize violence and death of our black and indigenous community.”
Whitewashing the 1,600squarefoot mural would cost at least $600,000, the district estimated.
Yet more than 400 educators and academics from around the world signed a petition to protect the mural. The petition says the mural actually calls attention to the horrors of racism.
The petition accused the board of voting “to destroy a significant monument of antiracism. This is a gross violation of logic and sense.”
Supporters are planning a 2020 ballot measure to save the mural.
Arnautoff, a Russian emigre who lived in San Francisco and died in 1979, was a student of the painter and muralist Diego Rivera. Arnautoff painted the Depressionera mural, “Life of Washington,” to criticize the subjugation endured by slaves and Native Americans during the nation’s founding.