American Nocturne: Difference between revisions
From Censorpedia
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
|subject=Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Public Art | |subject=Political/Economic/Social Opinion, Public Art | ||
|confronting_bodies=City of Elgin Illinois | |confronting_bodies=City of Elgin Illinois | ||
|medium=Public Art | |medium=Painting, Public Art | ||
|date_of_action=July 7, 2016 | |date_of_action=July 7, 2016 | ||
|location=Elgin, Illinois | |||
|description_of_content=The mural, which depicts a group of larger-than-life figures, was commissioned by the city in 2004 from The Outside Exhibition Group, a public art program founded by artist and Elgin resident David Powers whose purpose was to engage students in making public art. Along with art students from Judson University, Powers created the mural with the theme of racism. The the figures depicted are based on the mob in an infamous photograph of a lynching in Indiana, taken by Lawrence Beitler in 1930. The source image for the mural was not disclosed at the time of the commission. For a decade, "American Nocturne" stood in downtown Elgin along a pedestrian walkway between Spring and Grove avenues and stirred no controversy. | |description_of_content=The mural, which depicts a group of larger-than-life figures, was commissioned by the city in 2004 from The Outside Exhibition Group, a public art program founded by artist and Elgin resident David Powers whose purpose was to engage students in making public art. Along with art students from Judson University, Powers created the mural with the theme of racism. The the figures depicted are based on the mob in an infamous photograph of a lynching in Indiana, taken by Lawrence Beitler in 1930. The source image for the mural was not disclosed at the time of the commission. For a decade, "American Nocturne" stood in downtown Elgin along a pedestrian walkway between Spring and Grove avenues and stirred no controversy. | ||
|description_of_incident=Two passersby noticed that the figures are strikingly similar to those in an infamous photograph of a lynching in Indiana, shot by Lawrence Beitler in 1930. They shared its image on social media and thereby sparked an outcry, protests and a campaign to have it removed. | |description_of_incident=Two passersby noticed that the figures are strikingly similar to those in an infamous photograph of a lynching in Indiana, shot by Lawrence Beitler in 1930. They shared its image on social media and thereby sparked an outcry, protests and a campaign to have it removed. | ||
