It's Official - Diego Rivera Mural Will Be a Landmark, Not an 'Asset'

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has finally decided on the historical Diego Rivera mural's fate found at the San Francisco Art Institute (S.F.A.I.). The board members voted 11-0 in favor of declaring the artwork as a landmark. 

The decision came after the 150-year-old institution attempted to sell the Diego Rivera painting worth $50 million to pay off the organization's $19.7 million debt. Declaring the famous mural as a landmark would prohibit the S.F.A.I. to leverage it to wipe off debt or even us as collateral for future loans. 

As soon as the Diego Rivera mural receives its landmark status, it would have to undergo approval from the city's Historic Presevation Commission before anyone attempts to remove it from its current location.

"There's a lot of money in this town," said Aaron Peskin, one of the city's board members said as reported by The New York Times.

"There are better ways to get out of their mess than a harebrained scheme of selling the mural," Peskin added.

"Most Valuable Asset"

Art Institute Board chairwoman Pam Rorke Levy said that declaring the Diego Rivera mural as a landmark will deprive the institution of its "most valuable asset."

"Landmarking the mural now, when there is no imminent threat of it being sold, without sufficient consideration of S.F.A.I.'s position would deprive S.F.A.I. of its primary and most valuable asset," Levy said during a public hearing on the resolution.

(Photo : (Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for Barbican Art Gallery)

The S.F.A.I. Debt

The institution is currently facing financial difficulty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, costly renovations, and declining enrollment. 

In July 2020, a bank was supposed to sell the school's collateral, including the Chesnut Street campus, the Rivera mural, and 18 other artworks. However, the University of California Board of Regents saved them and paid off the debt in October.

The university has S.F.A.I. six years to repurchase the properties mentioned above; if not, the institution would take possession of the campus and other collaterals. 

As the S.F.A.I. faced possible foreclosure, the school officials attempted to look for suitable Rivera mural buyers. But Levy clarified that it was not their first option in paying off the campus' debt. 

"(The) first choice would be to endow the mural in place, attracting patrons or a partner institution that would create a substantial fund that would enable us to preserve, protect and present the mural to the public."

(Photo : Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Story Behind the Painting

Diego Rivera created massive artwork in 1931 after former S.F.A.I. President William Gerstle commissioned him to do so. 

The legendary Mexican muralist finished the artwork for a month and called it "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City." It depicts both city and a mural, complete with architects, engineers, artisans, sculptors, and painters. It shows the hardwork of every creative individual involved in creating a mural or a city. 

Rivera even included himself in the painting, holding a palette and brush as a member building a city. 

"The mural has been noted as a provocative expression of Rivera's politics, and an example of the elevated status the artist attributed to the industrial worker.," the S.F.A.I. website description reads.

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