Diego Rivera Mural at San Francisco Artwork Institute Might Nonetheless Be Bought – ARTnews.com

Daily SF NewsJune 28, 2023

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Courtesy of Cushman & Wakefield

The fate of the San Francisco Art Institute’s popular Diego Rivera mural is still uncertain, despite earlier reports that the painting would be saved and not sold.

On Tuesday, Cushman & Wakefield announced it would sell the campus of SFAI, a famous arts school that closed in 2022 after more than 150 years due to severe financial constraints. This property at 800 Chestnut Street includes Rivera’s mural entitled The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City (1931).

At 74 feet wide, the Rivera mural is considered important, even for an artist who created many large works in this medium. Commissioned by SFAI itself, the painting shows workers frescoing the exact spot where the Rivera plant stands. ABC News has reported that it could be worth $50 million.

“The fresco has made SFAI an international destination for the study of Rivera’s work and is considered an outstanding example of his mastery of the medium,” the now-defunct school notes on its website.

In 2021, with the threat of closure, SFAI leadership made attempts to sell the mural in hopes of luring money for the school. Students and professors condemned these attempts, and a union representing their members said that “this is only a limited lifeline and does not address patterns of misconduct and mismanagement on the part of SFAI’s board and officers.” (SFAI denied these allegations return.)

Amid the excitement over the plan to sell the mural, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to begin the process of making the Rivera painting a landmark, which would legally ensure it cannot be moved.

In April last year, Rivera fans were encouraged by a $200,000 Mellon Foundation grant given to the school in support of the mural. After receiving the grant, SFAI said it would restore the work, which many took as a sign the painting would not be sold. Then, in July, SFAI announced the official closure.

Now it looks like the mural will be put up for sale along with the rest of the campus. ARTnews has reached out to the Mellon Foundation asking about the status of the grant.

“The property is offered for sale. The mural of Diego Rivera, which is the personal property of the SFAI bankruptcy estate, is on the property,” Gregg Kleiner, attorney for the trustee, said in a statement to ARTnews. “If the estate receives a viable and acceptable offer for the property and mural together, the estate will proceed to a combined sale subject to required notice and bankruptcy court approval.”

He continued, “The SFAI bankruptcy estate is also considering a sole sale of the mural. Based on the information available, the mural was designed to be removed from the property. If the bankruptcy estate receives a viable offer for the mural alone, the trustee will likely propose a sale of the mural alone, subject to required notice and bankruptcy court approval.”

A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield declined to give a price for the lot, which covers 93,000 square feet.

Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that collector and filmmaker George Lucas had been interested in purchasing the Rivera mural for his upcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. However, this opinion was reportedly voiced during a board meeting in 2020, before the plant received milestone status.

Tom Christian, executive director at Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement that the 800 Chestnut Street property “will be an inspiring home for another educational institution, museum or other creative/innovative use.”