Mirth & Girth
Encyclopedia
Mirth & Girth is a portrait painting by School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) student David K. Nelson, Jr, in response to what the artist described as the deification of the popular African-American mayor of Chicago
, Harold Washington
, after his sudden death on November 25, 1987 due to a heart attack. The painting depicted Washington wearing only a bra, G-string, garter belt and stockings. After a brief showing at a May 11, 1988 private student exhibition in the Art Institute, angry African-American aldermen
arrived with Chicago Police Department
officers and confiscated the painting, triggering a First Amendment
and race relations crisis.
Free-speech
advocates condemned the seizure of the painting, while the aldermen maintained that the painting was an insult to Washington and should have been taken down. Some students at the SAIC showed their support for free speech by holding rallies in front of the school and at the Richard J. Daley Plaza. Remembering the city's recent Council Wars
between Washington and mostly-white aldermanic majority, other students criticized Nelson for poor timing in showing a racially insensitive image.
At some point between when the painting was confiscated and when it was returned, a 5 inches (13 cm) gash was made on the canvas. Nelson filed and later won a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming that the painting's confiscation and subsequent damaging violated his First Amendment rights. He and the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) settled with the city for $95,000 (1994; $138,000 in 2008) in compensation for the damaged painting after the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
upheld the lower court's
decision.
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Harold Washington, the subject of the portrait, had been a career politician in Chicago since his 1965 election to the Illinois House of Representatives
. From 1965 until his election as Mayor of Chicago
, Washington built a powerful African-American political stronghold in the 3rd Ward
against the Chicago Democratic Machine. With the death of Richard J. Daley
in late 1976 and the failure of the Machine to organize around another party boss, Washington split the white vote to win Chicago's 1983 Democratic mayoral primary election. He was then elected mayor after a racially polarizing general election against Bernard Epton
. His first four years were marked by the "Council Wars", a series of intense political struggles with the white aldermanic majority in City Council
. In April 1986, a court-ordered special election resulted in the defeat of seven Machine-supported aldermen, allowing Washington to proceed with his reforms. On November 25, 1987, as he and press secretary Alton Miller began to discuss Chicago Public Schools
system reform, Washington died suddenly of a heart attack in his office. His death was followed by a period of intense mourning by Chicagoans, particularly in the African-American community.
, "Girth and Mirth".
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times
, Nelson stated that he had painted Mirth & Girth over the course of one night, standing in his underwear. He said that he had painted it in response to how the city populace revered Washington shortly after his death. Nelson stated, "(i)n Chicago, at this time, Harold Washington is like an icon. He's like a deity." In particular, Nelson painted the portrait after seeing prints of "Worry Ye Not", another poster that depicted a smiling Washington with a blue-robe adorned Jesus Christ, looking down on the Chicago skyline. Nelson later testified that he had based the iconoclastic elements of the painting on a rumor that doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
had discovered female underwear beneath the suit Washington was wearing at the time of his death. Further fuel for rumors came from alderman Edward Vrdolyak
, who at the height of Chicago's Council Wars, often insinuated that Washington was gay, imitating Washington's demeanor, fluttering his arms and saying phrases such as "Pretty please?" in falsetto to mock Washington. Three weeks after the controversy erupted, in an interview with the New Art Examiner
, Nelson explained that the portrait referenced an existing photograph of Washington holding a cigarette prop at an American Cancer Society
event.
The caricature was not Nelson's first. He had drawn a portrait of his mother as "Whistler's Mother
" for Mother's Day. Nelson had also drawn a caricature of his father as the model depicted on boxes of Cream of Wheat
. Nelson explained, "(t)his kind of irreverence and iconoclasm runs through all my artwork". In an April Fools' Day edition of a Weekly World News
parody produced by Nelson, he illustrated SAIC president Edward Jones as an infant in the arms of a bare-breasted Madonna
.
For his part, Nelson said on a radio interview on WLUP
that he did not intend to ignite a racial controversy. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune
, Nelson said, "I think that Harold Washington and his memory and what he's done for the city are so great that one little painting shouldn't tarnish his image", but he refused to apologize for the painting. During the radio interview, Nelson also revealed that he thought he had heard the first rumors of Washington wearing women's underwear while listening to WLUP's on-air comic DJs; however, the DJs denied that they had spread the rumors.
Soon after the exhibit opened, word of the controversy reached the Chicago City Council
, which was in session. Alderman Bobby Rush
(then of the 2nd ward) immediately put together a resolution that would cut off the city's contribution to the Art Institute unless it apologized for displaying the painting. In part, the resolution read "Whereas, the artist David Nelson obviously exhibits some type of demented and pathological mental capacities ...". Another resolution was written that asked the Art Institute to remove the painting immediately. After passing both items, a group of aldermen left to deliver the resolutions to the Art Institute.
Nelson returned to the painting about an hour after it was first displayed. He had forgotten a hammer and nails to hang the painting, and had left it leaning against the wall for an hour. Shortly after he returned, city aldermen, police officers and local reporters arrived at the scene, leading to a dramatic confrontation between aldermen and other students, while Nelson remained incognito nearby.
(3rd) and Rush, arrived later. They took down the painting and attempted to remove it from the school, but were stopped by a school official. The aldermen then took the painting to the office of the school president Anthony Jones (no relation to Edward Jones). The painting had a 5 in (13 cm) gash, and it had been wrapped in brown paper.
Alderman Tillman threatened to burn the painting in President Jones' office, but a Chicago Police Department
(CPD) lieutenant present with the aldermen, Raymond Patterson, advised against this. Instead, another unnamed alderman called CPD superintendent Leroy Martin. Martin telephoned Patterson in Jones' office and ordered Patterson to take the painting into police custody, telling Jones that the painting amounted to "incitement to riot". Another CPD sergeant accompanied Rush, Streeter and Tillman to a waiting police car with the wrapped painting in hand. Parts of the incident were later broadcast on television.
The incident was marked by a volatile shouting match between the aldermen and students, and met with condemnation from free-speech advocates. As the aldermen escorted the painting to the police vehicle, a mass of students outside of the Art Institute jeered them, naming the aldermen "commies", "fascists", "brownshirts" and "philistines
". Seventeen bomb threats were recorded at the school after the controversy erupted.
, a mayoral aide, by African-American mayor and Harold Washington's successor Eugene Sawyer
. Cokely had accused Jews of "engaging in an international conspiracy for world control". His firing caused a rift in segments of the black community, leading some to believe that Sawyer was also involved in the same conspiracy.
In a New York Times article published on May 13, 1988, Alderman Streeter reiterated his stance regarding the removal of the painting, saying that he would have "gone to jail to get that painting down", calling it "an insult to a great man and an affront to blacks". On May 16, 1988, Streeter appeared on the local public television station
news program Chicago Tonight
. He reinforced that Nelson had abdicated his "responsibility to his constituency" to "do what is right". In the segment, he reaffirmed that he believed the aldermen had "a law, the law of common sense, the law of morality, the law of decency [that] transcends the First Amendment".
Operation PUSH, an organization that pursues social justice and civil rights, threatened to impose "sanctions" on the Art Institute unless the Art Institute acted to prevent offensive portraits from being shown by students or contributing artists in the future. Separately, the Illinois Alliance of Black Student Organizations called for racial parity with regards to faculty and student enrollment within the school. One recent African-American students alleged that there was an underlying attitude of racism at the school, while other black students distributed a flyer listing incidences of theft and advice given to foreign students about socializing with blacks. By contrast, another white graduate noted that school officials looked at students' slides and paintings without knowing the race of the student. The school noted that eighteen percent of its 1,312 undergraduate students were minorities, a higher percentage than comparable private professional art schools.
On February 12, 1994, during a rally to raise money for the defendants' mounting legal bills, Nation of Islam
leader Louis Farrakhan
supported the three aldermen's right to seize the painting, calling it "an act of righteous indignation". Farrakhan referred to Washington as "a father figure for black people", and described the painting and subsequent lawsuit "a total disrespect for our feelings and our community".
(ACLU) picked up the painting and returned it to Nelson. Jay Miller, another representative for the ACLU, described the incident as "vigilante stuff", noting that the action "was done in the name of one of the great civil libertarians of our time. Harold Washington had a 100 percent voting record in Congress and in the state Legislature on issues of civil liberties and civil rights." In 1984 Washington had supported the civil rights of sculptor John Sefick after Sefick had created a satirical statue of Washington. By comparison, former mayor Michael Bilandic had ordered a Sefick statue satirizing his handling of Chicago's crippling Blizzard of 1979
covered by a blanket, a decision that was later overturned in federal court.
Students from the SAIC protested on Columbus Drive
the next day, holding signs that asked drivers to "honk for free speech". Student leaders began to consult attorneys to file a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department and the aldermen. Other groups of students planned a "be-in
" at the Richard J. Daley Plaza
, but it was canceled after the students learned other groups might cause a confrontation. Some students felt that the school had been a victim of racial politics, and that the incident would be used to censor the Art Institute.
On Chicago Tonight, Daniel Polsby, a law professor at Northwestern University
, cited federal statutes violated during the confiscation of the portrait. He then faulted Marshall Field's reluctance to defend the First Amendment, further comparing the seizure of Mirth & Girth to then-Arkansas governor Orval Faubus
' refusal to abide by the First Amendment and allow minorities to enroll in Little Rock Central High School. According to Polsby, Faubus' rationale at the time was to preserve a delicate civil rights situation. Polsby called the aldermen's action "crushingly ironic and terribly sad".
Members of the Art Institute Board met the day after the incident and agreed not to display Mirth & Girth any further. Chairman Marshall Field also issued a formal apology for displaying the painting and agreed to consider demands that the school both hire more black administrators and accept more black students. Field also published the apology in each of the city's daily metropolitan newspapers. After the apology was issued, Polsby strongly criticized Field's refusal to more aggressively stand up for the students' First Amendment rights.
As for the painting's critical reception, one local art reviewer mentioned that "the only thing [the SAIC] might have felt sheepish about was not having a staff that in four years could instill in Nelson a better grasp of figure painting". In a newspaper interview, Nelson responded that the criticism was "the one thing that did make me kind of angry. I don't think the painting was poorly executed, though it wasn't my favorite painting." In his book Arresting Images — Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions, Stephen C. Dubin suggested that the painting represented a symbolic castration of Washington, reflecting more "traditional" reactions to African-Americans in positions of power.
Nelson gave only a few interviews before leaving Chicago for the suburbs, and then Graceland
to avoid the press. On the advice of his friends, Nelson stayed away from his graduation ceremony on May 14, 1988. He turned down a $15,000 (1988, $22,000 in 2008) offer for the painting, calling it a "grossly inflated" price. He also turned down a separate opportunity to appear on Phil Donahue
's syndicated talk show, saying that he never watched the show and was genuinely uninterested in the offer. Other than the interview with WLUP, Nelson's views were expressed by Harvey Grossman, the legal director for the ACLU. Through Grossman, Nelson said he would not press for the returning of the painting, as it had fulfilled its purpose of "drawing attention to his 'iconoclastic
' work".
right to protection from unreasonable seizures, and Fourteenth amendment
right against being deprived of property without a hearing. The ACLU sought $100,000 (1988, $182,000 in 2008) to compensate Nelson for damage to the painting, and to "punish" the aldermen and police for their actions.
Ald. Robert Shaw (9th) called the suit "a slap in the face to the black community". Rush questioned the motive of the suit, as himself, Tillman and Streeter all were supporters of Alderman Timothy C. Evans
(17th), a political rival of mayor Eugene Sawyer. Rush specifically called the suit "frivolous" and "impetuous", openly questioning whether the ACLU had filed the suit to enhance fundraising activities or for other political reasons.
The City of Chicago refused in February 1990 to pay mounting legal costs for the aldermen. The aldermen argued that they were performing their official duties "in protecting the security of the city during the turmoil created by the exhibit" when they removed the painting. The city contended that the aldermen had taken the action as individuals. Nelson refused a $10,000 (1990, $16,000 in 2008) settlement at the time.
On August 11, 1992, U.S. District Judge George Lindberg dismissed the City of Chicago from the lawsuit, but ruled that Superintendent Martin must go to trial and that the three aldermen violated Nelson's civil rights. Lindberg supported the recommendations regarding that issue Magistrate Judge
Elaine Bucklo's had made in March 1992. Tillman's lawyer, James Chapman, recommended to Tillman that an immediate appeal be filed in federal court.
, Frank H. Easterbrook
, and Michael Stephen Kanne
affirmed Lindberg's earlier decision. Writing for the court, Posner rejected claims of official immunity and said city officials had no right to enter private property and take "offensive" paintings off its walls. He also rejected the argument that removing paintings from walls was an official duty.
Posner also rejected the argument that the defendants were removing the painting to save Chicago from racial riots that the continued showing of the painting might have started, and in which it might have been destroyed. He found that Tillman herself threatened to burn the painting on the spot, and that there was no mob. In addition, the court found that because Nelson had not intended to provoke a riot, the First Amendment could still be used to protect his speech.
Grossman stated that the relatively small settlement showed that Nelson had proceeded with the lawsuit "on a matter of principle". Tillman, however, called the settlement a "great victory", saying, "we didn't admit to anything, all the charges were dropped, we're not paying anything (in damages), and we preserve our rights to pursue efforts to have our legal fees paid". At the time the lawsuit was settled, Nelson did not issue any statements. The Chicago Tribune reported that he was employed as an advertising artist at an undisclosed firm; he continued to paint in his free time. As of 1994, the painting had not been sold, exhibited, or repaired after the incident.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Harold Washington
Harold Washington
Harold Lee Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American Mayor of Chicago, serving from 1983 until his death in 1987.- Early years and military service :...
, after his sudden death on November 25, 1987 due to a heart attack. The painting depicted Washington wearing only a bra, G-string, garter belt and stockings. After a brief showing at a May 11, 1988 private student exhibition in the Art Institute, angry African-American aldermen
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
arrived with Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
officers and confiscated the painting, triggering a First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
and race relations crisis.
Free-speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
advocates condemned the seizure of the painting, while the aldermen maintained that the painting was an insult to Washington and should have been taken down. Some students at the SAIC showed their support for free speech by holding rallies in front of the school and at the Richard J. Daley Plaza. Remembering the city's recent Council Wars
Council Wars
The Council Wars were a racially polarized political conflict in the city of Chicago from 1983-1986, centered on the Chicago City Council.The term came from a satirical comedy sketch of the same name written and performed by comedian and journalist Aaron Freeman in 1983, using the good-v.-evil plot...
between Washington and mostly-white aldermanic majority, other students criticized Nelson for poor timing in showing a racially insensitive image.
At some point between when the painting was confiscated and when it was returned, a 5 inches (13 cm) gash was made on the canvas. Nelson filed and later won a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming that the painting's confiscation and subsequent damaging violated his First Amendment rights. He and the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) settled with the city for $95,000 (1994; $138,000 in 2008) in compensation for the damaged painting after the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:* Central District of Illinois* Northern District of Illinois...
upheld the lower court's
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois....
decision.
Harold Washington
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
. From 1965 until his election as Mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
, Washington built a powerful African-American political stronghold in the 3rd Ward
Wards of the United States
In the United States, a ward is an optional division of a city or town, especially an electoral district, for administrative and representative purposes...
against the Chicago Democratic Machine. With the death of Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
in late 1976 and the failure of the Machine to organize around another party boss, Washington split the white vote to win Chicago's 1983 Democratic mayoral primary election. He was then elected mayor after a racially polarizing general election against Bernard Epton
Bernard Epton
Bernard Epton was an American politician who served in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1983 he lost a close and contentious election for Mayor of Chicago; he would have become the city's first Jewish mayor, and its first Republican mayor since William "Big Bill" Thompson was defeated in...
. His first four years were marked by the "Council Wars", a series of intense political struggles with the white aldermanic majority in City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
. In April 1986, a court-ordered special election resulted in the defeat of seven Machine-supported aldermen, allowing Washington to proceed with his reforms. On November 25, 1987, as he and press secretary Alton Miller began to discuss Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians and officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, is a large school district that manages over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois...
system reform, Washington died suddenly of a heart attack in his office. His death was followed by a period of intense mourning by Chicagoans, particularly in the African-American community.
Creation of painting
Shortly after Washington's death, Nelson (who is white) painted Mirth & Girth, a "full-length frontal portrait of a portly grim-faced Harold Washington clad in a white bra and G-string, garter belt, and stockings". The painting was approximately 4 feet (122 cm) tall by 3 feet (91 cm) wide. In the portrait, Washington is holding a pencil in his right hand. His aide, Alton Miller, initially mistook Washington's slumping over his desk as an attempt to pick up a pencil that had fallen onto the floor. The title of the piece is believed to have been derived from the name of an organization for overweight gay menChub (gay culture)
A chub is an overweight or obese gay man who identifies as being part of the related chubby culture. Although there is some overlap between chubs and bears, chubs have their own distinct subculture and community...
, "Girth and Mirth".
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, Nelson stated that he had painted Mirth & Girth over the course of one night, standing in his underwear. He said that he had painted it in response to how the city populace revered Washington shortly after his death. Nelson stated, "(i)n Chicago, at this time, Harold Washington is like an icon. He's like a deity." In particular, Nelson painted the portrait after seeing prints of "Worry Ye Not", another poster that depicted a smiling Washington with a blue-robe adorned Jesus Christ, looking down on the Chicago skyline. Nelson later testified that he had based the iconoclastic elements of the painting on a rumor that doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the nation's preeminent academic medical centers and is the primary teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. It is the second tallest hospital in the United States and the fourth tallest hospital in the world...
had discovered female underwear beneath the suit Washington was wearing at the time of his death. Further fuel for rumors came from alderman Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Vrdolyak
Edward Robert Vrdolyak is a noted Chicago lawyer and politician and a convicted felon. He was a powerful longtime Chicago Alderman and also head of the Cook County Democratic Party before running unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago as a Republican...
, who at the height of Chicago's Council Wars, often insinuated that Washington was gay, imitating Washington's demeanor, fluttering his arms and saying phrases such as "Pretty please?" in falsetto to mock Washington. Three weeks after the controversy erupted, in an interview with the New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner was a Chicago-based art magazine. Founded in October 1973 by Derek Guthrie and Jane Addams Allen. Publication ceased in 2002.November 2011 will see the release of Essential New Art Examiner, an Anthology of representative articles and editors...
, Nelson explained that the portrait referenced an existing photograph of Washington holding a cigarette prop at an American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
event.
The caricature was not Nelson's first. He had drawn a portrait of his mother as "Whistler's Mother
Whistler's Mother
Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother, famous under its colloquial name Whistler's Mother, is an 1871 oil-on-canvas painting by American-born painter James McNeill Whistler. The painting is , displayed in a frame of Whistler's own design, and is now owned by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris....
" for Mother's Day. Nelson had also drawn a caricature of his father as the model depicted on boxes of Cream of Wheat
Cream of Wheat
Cream of Wheat is a porridge-type breakfast food invented in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The cereal is currently manufactured and sold by B&G Foods. Until 2007, it was the Nabisco brand made by Kraft Foods. It is similar in texture to grits, but made with farina instead...
. Nelson explained, "(t)his kind of irreverence and iconoclasm runs through all my artwork". In an April Fools' Day edition of a Weekly World News
Weekly World News
The Weekly World News was a supermarket tabloid published in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news that verged on the satirical. Its characteristic black-and-white covers have become...
parody produced by Nelson, he illustrated SAIC president Edward Jones as an infant in the arms of a bare-breasted Madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
.
Nelson's personality
In newspaper interviews in the controversy that followed, some students described Nelson as a prankster. Others described him as irreverent, loving parody and craving attention, but not malicious. John Van Amerongen, a sculpture teacher at the Art Institute, said the painting was a caricature, and that Nelson was expressing "a sense of humor". Joel Davies, faculty advisor of the monthly student publication where Nelson was the illustrator, called Nelson "an irreverent fellow with amazing supplies of energy who is always full of ideas—and a lot of them are obnoxious". However, teacher Christina Ramberg called the painting "offensive and in poor taste", adding that "[if the painting had been done in class], any teacher would have talked to the student about the appropriateness of this sort of thing. My suspicion is this young man didn't completely understand what he was up to. The content is very petty."For his part, Nelson said on a radio interview on WLUP
WLUP
WLUP-FM is a commercial classic rock radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned and operated by Merlin Media, LLC, WLUP transmits its signal from an antenna located the top of the Willis Tower in Downtown Chicago at a height of with an effective radiated power of 4,000 watts...
that he did not intend to ignite a racial controversy. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, Nelson said, "I think that Harold Washington and his memory and what he's done for the city are so great that one little painting shouldn't tarnish his image", but he refused to apologize for the painting. During the radio interview, Nelson also revealed that he thought he had heard the first rumors of Washington wearing women's underwear while listening to WLUP's on-air comic DJs; however, the DJs denied that they had spread the rumors.
Initial display
On May 11, 1988, Mirth & Girth was displayed at a private exhibition in one of the school's main interior hallways. The painting was part of a set of six that Nelson was displaying in a judged three-day student fellowship exhibition held to showcase upcoming graduates. Another of his works was a self-portrait titled "I'm Sensitive, and I Love All Humanity", depicting Nelson holding little people of multiple nationalities. As soon as the exhibit opened, between 7:30 and 8:30 am, the painting drew enough negative attention for the Art Institute to post a security guard in front of the painting. Shortly thereafter, the school began to receive angry phone calls about the painting.Soon after the exhibit opened, word of the controversy reached the Chicago City Council
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms...
, which was in session. Alderman Bobby Rush
Bobby Rush
Bobby Lee Rush is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district is located principally on the South Side of Chicago. It is a minority-majority district and has a higher percentage of African Americans than any other congressional district in...
(then of the 2nd ward) immediately put together a resolution that would cut off the city's contribution to the Art Institute unless it apologized for displaying the painting. In part, the resolution read "Whereas, the artist David Nelson obviously exhibits some type of demented and pathological mental capacities ...". Another resolution was written that asked the Art Institute to remove the painting immediately. After passing both items, a group of aldermen left to deliver the resolutions to the Art Institute.
Nelson returned to the painting about an hour after it was first displayed. He had forgotten a hammer and nails to hang the painting, and had left it leaning against the wall for an hour. Shortly after he returned, city aldermen, police officers and local reporters arrived at the scene, leading to a dramatic confrontation between aldermen and other students, while Nelson remained incognito nearby.
Confiscation
Aldermen Edward Jones (20th) and William C. Henry (24th) were the first aldermen to arrive from the City Council session. According to the federal lawsuit, Henry showed he had a gun, and then with Jones removed the now-hung painting from the wall and placed it on the floor, facing the wall. After they left, another student rehung the painting. Three other aldermen, Allan Streeter (17th), Dorothy TillmanDorothy Tillman
Dorothy J. Tillman is a former Chicago alderman in the 3rd Ward . A member of the Democratic Party, she represented part of the city's South Side in the Chicago City Council. As an Alderman, Tillman was a strong advocate of reparations for slavery. In April 2007, she was defeated in a runoff...
(3rd) and Rush, arrived later. They took down the painting and attempted to remove it from the school, but were stopped by a school official. The aldermen then took the painting to the office of the school president Anthony Jones (no relation to Edward Jones). The painting had a 5 in (13 cm) gash, and it had been wrapped in brown paper.
Alderman Tillman threatened to burn the painting in President Jones' office, but a Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
(CPD) lieutenant present with the aldermen, Raymond Patterson, advised against this. Instead, another unnamed alderman called CPD superintendent Leroy Martin. Martin telephoned Patterson in Jones' office and ordered Patterson to take the painting into police custody, telling Jones that the painting amounted to "incitement to riot". Another CPD sergeant accompanied Rush, Streeter and Tillman to a waiting police car with the wrapped painting in hand. Parts of the incident were later broadcast on television.
The incident was marked by a volatile shouting match between the aldermen and students, and met with condemnation from free-speech advocates. As the aldermen escorted the painting to the police vehicle, a mass of students outside of the Art Institute jeered them, naming the aldermen "commies", "fascists", "brownshirts" and "philistines
Philistinism
Philistinism is a derogatory term used to a particular attitude or set of values perceived as despising or undervaluing art, beauty, spirituality, or intellectualism. A person with this attitude is referred to as a Philistine and may also be considered materialistic, favoring conventional social...
". Seventeen bomb threats were recorded at the school after the controversy erupted.
African-American community
Shortly after the incident, a black alderman told reporters that he believed the painting was the work of a Jewish artist. Nelson replied through a Chicago Tribune story that he "is not Jewish". The remark was made in part because racial tensions had already been elevated a week earlier after the firing of Steve CokelySteve Cokely
Steve Cokely is a conspiracy theorist from Chicago who gained national attention in late 1988 after he was quoted from a lecture before the Nation of Islam saying that Jewish doctors had injected black babies with HIV....
, a mayoral aide, by African-American mayor and Harold Washington's successor Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer
Eugene Sawyer was an American businessman and politician who served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois as a member of the Democratic Party. He was the second African American to serve as mayor of Chicago....
. Cokely had accused Jews of "engaging in an international conspiracy for world control". His firing caused a rift in segments of the black community, leading some to believe that Sawyer was also involved in the same conspiracy.
In a New York Times article published on May 13, 1988, Alderman Streeter reiterated his stance regarding the removal of the painting, saying that he would have "gone to jail to get that painting down", calling it "an insult to a great man and an affront to blacks". On May 16, 1988, Streeter appeared on the local public television station
WTTW
WTTW channel 11 is one of three Public Broadcasting Service member public television stations serving the Chicago, Illinois market; the others are WYCC and WYIN. WTTW began broadcasting on September 6, 1955 and it is owned and operated by Window to the World Communications, Inc., a not-for-profit...
news program Chicago Tonight
Chicago Tonight
Chicago Tonight is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on WTTW in Chicago. Chicago Tonight reports primarily on local news and presents features showcasing local artists and events. The show started in 1984 and for 15 years popular Chicago broadcast journalist John Callaway...
. He reinforced that Nelson had abdicated his "responsibility to his constituency" to "do what is right". In the segment, he reaffirmed that he believed the aldermen had "a law, the law of common sense, the law of morality, the law of decency [that] transcends the First Amendment".
Operation PUSH, an organization that pursues social justice and civil rights, threatened to impose "sanctions" on the Art Institute unless the Art Institute acted to prevent offensive portraits from being shown by students or contributing artists in the future. Separately, the Illinois Alliance of Black Student Organizations called for racial parity with regards to faculty and student enrollment within the school. One recent African-American students alleged that there was an underlying attitude of racism at the school, while other black students distributed a flyer listing incidences of theft and advice given to foreign students about socializing with blacks. By contrast, another white graduate noted that school officials looked at students' slides and paintings without knowing the race of the student. The school noted that eighteen percent of its 1,312 undergraduate students were minorities, a higher percentage than comparable private professional art schools.
On February 12, 1994, during a rally to raise money for the defendants' mounting legal bills, Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
leader Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
supported the three aldermen's right to seize the painting, calling it "an act of righteous indignation". Farrakhan referred to Washington as "a father figure for black people", and described the painting and subsequent lawsuit "a total disrespect for our feelings and our community".
Free speech advocates
On May 12, 1988, representatives from the American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
(ACLU) picked up the painting and returned it to Nelson. Jay Miller, another representative for the ACLU, described the incident as "vigilante stuff", noting that the action "was done in the name of one of the great civil libertarians of our time. Harold Washington had a 100 percent voting record in Congress and in the state Legislature on issues of civil liberties and civil rights." In 1984 Washington had supported the civil rights of sculptor John Sefick after Sefick had created a satirical statue of Washington. By comparison, former mayor Michael Bilandic had ordered a Sefick statue satirizing his handling of Chicago's crippling Blizzard of 1979
Chicago Blizzard of 1979
The Chicago Blizzard of 1979 was a major blizzard that affected northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, U.S. on January 13-January 14, 1979. of snow fell on January 13 alone, setting a new record for snow in one calendar day...
covered by a blanket, a decision that was later overturned in federal court.
Students from the SAIC protested on Columbus Drive
Columbus Drive (Chicago)
Columbus Drive is a north-south street in Chicago, Illinois which bisects Grant Park. It is 254 E in Chicago's street numbering system. Its south end is an interchange with Lake Shore Drive at Soldier Field...
the next day, holding signs that asked drivers to "honk for free speech". Student leaders began to consult attorneys to file a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department and the aldermen. Other groups of students planned a "be-in
Human Be-In
The Human Be-In was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic'...
" at the Richard J. Daley Plaza
Richard J. Daley Center
The Richard J. Daley Center, also known by its courtyard Daley Plaza and named after longtime mayor Richard J. Daley, is the premier civic center of the City of Chicago in Illinois. Situated on Randolph and Washington Streets between Dearborn and Clark Streets, the Richard J. Daley Center is...
, but it was canceled after the students learned other groups might cause a confrontation. Some students felt that the school had been a victim of racial politics, and that the incident would be used to censor the Art Institute.
On Chicago Tonight, Daniel Polsby, a law professor at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, cited federal statutes violated during the confiscation of the portrait. He then faulted Marshall Field's reluctance to defend the First Amendment, further comparing the seizure of Mirth & Girth to then-Arkansas governor Orval Faubus
Orval Faubus
Orval Eugene Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas, serving from 1955 to 1967. He is best known for his 1957 stand against the desegregation of Little Rock public schools during the Little Rock Crisis, in which he defied a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court by ordering the...
' refusal to abide by the First Amendment and allow minorities to enroll in Little Rock Central High School. According to Polsby, Faubus' rationale at the time was to preserve a delicate civil rights situation. Polsby called the aldermen's action "crushingly ironic and terribly sad".
Reactions within the SAIC
At the SAIC, students' characterizations of the painting ranged from political caricature, to "whimsy", to a commercial success. One student noted that Nelson was "known nationally now, which is every artist's dream". Another student noted that "(a)rtists have to be responsible for what they make, and this guy is not being responsible". In a meeting with 100 students after the incident, Anthony Jones, then-president of the SAIC, assured the students that he stood behind their First Amendment rights. Regarding the painting, Jones said that the painting was in poor taste and should not have been displayed.Members of the Art Institute Board met the day after the incident and agreed not to display Mirth & Girth any further. Chairman Marshall Field also issued a formal apology for displaying the painting and agreed to consider demands that the school both hire more black administrators and accept more black students. Field also published the apology in each of the city's daily metropolitan newspapers. After the apology was issued, Polsby strongly criticized Field's refusal to more aggressively stand up for the students' First Amendment rights.
Other reactions
Members of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, which included leaders from mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish organizations from the city, issued a statement that expressed "moral dismay" over the painting. They further added that the display of the painting showed "a lack of sensitivity which we could have expected from those who were responsible for its showing".As for the painting's critical reception, one local art reviewer mentioned that "the only thing [the SAIC] might have felt sheepish about was not having a staff that in four years could instill in Nelson a better grasp of figure painting". In a newspaper interview, Nelson responded that the criticism was "the one thing that did make me kind of angry. I don't think the painting was poorly executed, though it wasn't my favorite painting." In his book Arresting Images — Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions, Stephen C. Dubin suggested that the painting represented a symbolic castration of Washington, reflecting more "traditional" reactions to African-Americans in positions of power.
Nelson gave only a few interviews before leaving Chicago for the suburbs, and then Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
to avoid the press. On the advice of his friends, Nelson stayed away from his graduation ceremony on May 14, 1988. He turned down a $15,000 (1988, $22,000 in 2008) offer for the painting, calling it a "grossly inflated" price. He also turned down a separate opportunity to appear on Phil Donahue
Phil Donahue
Phillip John "Phil" Donahue is an American media personality, writer, and film producer best known as the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show. The television program, also known as Donahue, was the first to use a talk show format. The show had a 26-year run on U.S...
's syndicated talk show, saying that he never watched the show and was genuinely uninterested in the offer. Other than the interview with WLUP, Nelson's views were expressed by Harvey Grossman, the legal director for the ACLU. Through Grossman, Nelson said he would not press for the returning of the painting, as it had fulfilled its purpose of "drawing attention to his 'iconoclastic
Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
' work".
Nelson v. Streeter
On June 23, 1988, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Nelson against the three aldermen who were seen on television handling the painting. It claimed the removal of the painting violated Nelson's First Amendment right to freedom of expression, Fourth AmendmentFourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
right to protection from unreasonable seizures, and Fourteenth amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
right against being deprived of property without a hearing. The ACLU sought $100,000 (1988, $182,000 in 2008) to compensate Nelson for damage to the painting, and to "punish" the aldermen and police for their actions.
Ald. Robert Shaw (9th) called the suit "a slap in the face to the black community". Rush questioned the motive of the suit, as himself, Tillman and Streeter all were supporters of Alderman Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans
Timothy C. Evans is the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. He is the first black Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court and a graduate of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He was first elected to the bench in 1992....
(17th), a political rival of mayor Eugene Sawyer. Rush specifically called the suit "frivolous" and "impetuous", openly questioning whether the ACLU had filed the suit to enhance fundraising activities or for other political reasons.
The City of Chicago refused in February 1990 to pay mounting legal costs for the aldermen. The aldermen argued that they were performing their official duties "in protecting the security of the city during the turmoil created by the exhibit" when they removed the painting. The city contended that the aldermen had taken the action as individuals. Nelson refused a $10,000 (1990, $16,000 in 2008) settlement at the time.
On August 11, 1992, U.S. District Judge George Lindberg dismissed the City of Chicago from the lawsuit, but ruled that Superintendent Martin must go to trial and that the three aldermen violated Nelson's civil rights. Lindberg supported the recommendations regarding that issue Magistrate Judge
United States magistrate judge
In the United States federal courts, magistrate judges are appointed to assist United States district court judges in the performance of their duties...
Elaine Bucklo's had made in March 1992. Tillman's lawyer, James Chapman, recommended to Tillman that an immediate appeal be filed in federal court.
Appellate court
In the appeal, decided February 1, 1994, judges Richard PosnerRichard Posner
Richard Allen Posner is an American jurist, legal theorist, and economist who is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School...
, Frank H. Easterbrook
Frank H. Easterbrook
Frank Hoover Easterbrook is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He has been Chief Judge since November 2006, and has been a judge on the court since 1985...
, and Michael Stephen Kanne
Michael Stephen Kanne
Michael Stephen Kanne is a United States federal judge.Born in Rensselaer, Indiana, Kanne received a B.S. from Indiana University in 1962. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1962 to 1965, then received a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law in 1968...
affirmed Lindberg's earlier decision. Writing for the court, Posner rejected claims of official immunity and said city officials had no right to enter private property and take "offensive" paintings off its walls. He also rejected the argument that removing paintings from walls was an official duty.
Posner also rejected the argument that the defendants were removing the painting to save Chicago from racial riots that the continued showing of the painting might have started, and in which it might have been destroyed. He found that Tillman herself threatened to burn the painting on the spot, and that there was no mob. In addition, the court found that because Nelson had not intended to provoke a riot, the First Amendment could still be used to protect his speech.
Settlement and aftermath
On September 20, 1994, the city and the ACLU reached a settlement. The ACLU agreed to drop claims against the city and Superintendent LeRoy Martin. In return, the city of Chicago agreed to pay Nelson and the ACLU $95,000 (1994, $138,000 in 2008) for damage to the painting and to issue police procedures about what materials protected by the First Amendment may be seized. The elected officials also agreed not to appeal the district court's ruling. Left unresolved were the hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal fees owed to lawyers defending Tillman, Rush and Streeter; by September 1994, $200,000 (1994, $292,000 in 2008) in fees were owed by Tillman alone. Earlier in the year, the City Council's Finance Committee voted against paying for the aldermen's legal fees. The vote split along racial lines, 12 to 8.Grossman stated that the relatively small settlement showed that Nelson had proceeded with the lawsuit "on a matter of principle". Tillman, however, called the settlement a "great victory", saying, "we didn't admit to anything, all the charges were dropped, we're not paying anything (in damages), and we preserve our rights to pursue efforts to have our legal fees paid". At the time the lawsuit was settled, Nelson did not issue any statements. The Chicago Tribune reported that he was employed as an advertising artist at an undisclosed firm; he continued to paint in his free time. As of 1994, the painting had not been sold, exhibited, or repaired after the incident.