Post #553921 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Sep 15, 2010 1:52 AM

NOW OPEN!:

http://www.artsopolis.com/event/detail/55169/The_Lost_Murals_of_Miguel_Covarrubias

http://sanjosemariachifestival.com/lost-murals-of-miguel-covarrubias.php

The past:

Mural Controversy
From an article written by Edward Epstein for the San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 2001. The fate of five giant murals by the great Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias, conservatively valued at $5 million, has placed San Francisco in a new art controversy, this one with international diplomatic fallout. Covarrubias, a muralist, noted magazine illustrator and anthropologist, created six murals for the 1939-40 world's fair on Treasure Island. In a mystery still unsolved, one of the six disappeared after being sent to New York City for exhibition. The Mexican government is not happy over what it perceives as the shabby treatment given the murals created by Covarrubias, who died in 1957. Mexico wants port officials to try to find the long-missing sixth mural and make sure the other five are in top shape and displayed to the public. But Port Director Doug Wong said the murals had always been kept away from construction and had been undamaged during their removal. They are in the hands of Atthowe Fine Arts Service, an Oakland firm that has a reputation as one of the area's premier art movers and restorers. I consider them invaluable," Belcher wrote. "I appraise the five large fresco murals at a fair market value of $1 million each. I consider this appraisal to be extremely conservative. If they were offered at public auction for international buyers, the resultant value could be considerably higher. "These treasures must be saved and displayed." As for the missing mural, the port's Alec Bash explained that the trail had long ago grown cold. After the world's fair closed in 1940, the murals went east to the American Natural History Museum in New York. "Some say the sixth one was sent from New York, but no one says it ever arrived in California," Bash said. "I suggest the 60-year-old mystery go on the show 'Unsolved Mysteries.'

Possible futures:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433380219059408.html

Please post pictures from any visits!