Photo ksors.org
Thirteen frescoes of the Russian émigré artist Viktor Arnautov, painted in 1935–1936 at George Washington High School in San Francisco, can be painted over on the recommendation of experts drawn by the city’s school district. They want to destroy the images under the pretext that they "glorify slavery, genocide and the superiority of the white population."
Representatives of the Russian community use the documents to prove that the frescoes were created with quite the opposite goal - to draw people's attention to the dark pages of US history. The coordinating council of organizations of Russian compatriots have published a petition against the destruction of the frescoes.
The authors of the petition cite facts from the artist’s published biography to prove that he did not mean to humiliate certain groups of American society. The study of Professor Robert Chernuy clearly states that the Russian artist depicted scenes of oppression of people with dark skin color in order to condemn slavery and other manifestations of injustice that were part of the state ideology of the times of President George Washington.
Victor Arnautov openly protested against the genocide of the Indians and African Americans and sought to draw the attention of contemporaries to the manifestation of discrimination against "color" Americans at that time. The authors of the petition call the frescoes of Arnautov “a critically important educational tool” and urge like-minded people to sign the petition.
Russkiy Mir
