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November 11, 2019 4:19 PM Subscribe
Keith Haring's 'Hidden' Mural Heads To Auction, Sparks Emotion Haring painted a stairwell mural for a NYC kids' organization. The mural has now been removed, and is heading for auction, to fund capital projects at the church at which it was located.
The massive, 85' mural was painted in a stairwell at Grace House, a former convent owned by the Ascension Church in Morningside Heights on the Upper West Side and the home, for a time, of the Catholic Youth Organization, beginning in 1977. Later, after Grace House was shuttered, the building's rooms were rented; the building returned to the Church of the Ascension in the early 2000s. For many, the news that the mural was being sold by Bonhams auctioneers and appraisers on behalf of Ascension Church — the work is expected to bring in between $3 and $5 million — to fund major capital projects at the parish, including significant accessibility upgrades, sparked a range of emotions, from joy at its preservation to sadness that it could not have remained in its original space, as Haring intended.
The massive, 85' mural was painted in a stairwell at Grace House, a former convent owned by the Ascension Church in Morningside Heights on the Upper West Side and the home, for a time, of the Catholic Youth Organization, beginning in 1977. Later, after Grace House was shuttered, the building's rooms were rented; the building returned to the Church of the Ascension in the early 2000s. For many, the news that the mural was being sold by Bonhams auctioneers and appraisers on behalf of Ascension Church — the work is expected to bring in between $3 and $5 million — to fund major capital projects at the parish, including significant accessibility upgrades, sparked a range of emotions, from joy at its preservation to sadness that it could not have remained in its original space, as Haring intended.
I dunno, I guess I kinda wish the diocese had sold the building intact to the lgbt teen center. I mean I understand preservation, but if they were going to sell the building anyway, why not keep the art for the next group of kids to be inspired.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:20 PM on November 11, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:20 PM on November 11, 2019 [6 favorites]
Better save it than paint over it. I think people are mainly upset that money is changing hands.
posted by bookbook at 3:23 AM on November 12, 2019
posted by bookbook at 3:23 AM on November 12, 2019
There's a sort of walkthrough linked to from this Bonham's page. Cool to be able to see it in situ. (There are also videos of the removal but I didn't feel like watching them...) Hopefully whoever buys it can put it back together.
posted by Standard Orange at 11:12 PM on November 12, 2019
posted by Standard Orange at 11:12 PM on November 12, 2019
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*probably stolen.
posted by srboisvert at 5:10 PM on November 11, 2019 [1 favorite]