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- Life of Washington is a mural cycle in San Francisco's George Washington High School painted by Victor Arnautoff in 1936. It depicts George Washington at various real and imagined points in his life. Composed of 13 panels and spanning 1600 square feet, the work was the largest mural by a single artist that the WPA funded. According to the art critic Roberta Smith, the cycle is "among the most honest and possibly the most subversive of the W.P.A. era". Since the 1960s, vignettes in two of the panels, entitled "Mount Vernon" and "Westward Vision", have been controversial due to their depiction of slavery and Native Americans. Activists have sought the removal of the artwork, contending that the mural's imagery creates a hostile environment. Preservationists argue that the imagery is subversive as Arnautoff, a communist protege of Diego Rivera, was critiquing the country's colonial past. In 2019 San Francisco School Board voted to paint over all 13 panels. After a national uproar, the board decided to conceal the art work instead. Subsequently the school's alumni association sued the district for violation of California's Environmental Quality Act. In 2021, a superior court judge agreed that the law had not been followed, and ruled that the mural should remain in public view. The board initially appealed that decision; however, after three board members were ousted in the recall election of 2022, a new board voted to comply with the judge's ruling. The lawsuit cost the district $525,000 in legal fees. (en)
- Конфликт вокруг фресок Арнаутова — массовый протест общественности и деятелей культуры против решения городского совета по образованию Сан-Франциско закрасить 13 фресок Виктора Арнаутова в в Сан-Франциско. (ru)
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