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1930s UCSF Murals In Danger Unless $8 Million Is Raised

Celebrated New Deal-era murals by Diego Rivera collaborator Bernard Zakheim might be destroyed.
By - posted 6/17/2020 No Comment

In the wake of COVID-19 and financial challenges, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that sadly the UCSF New Deal murals could be destroyed.

A series of celebrated New Deal-era murals on the UCSF Parnassus campus, painted in the 1930s by Diego Rivera collaborator Bernard Zakheim could be destroyed unless $8 million is raised to safely move and preserve the artwork.

UCSF spokeswoman Jennifer O’Brien said the university doesn’t have the $8 million it would cost to move the artwork to a new building, and moving the “fragile murals would likely cause irreparable damage,” 

The medical school has reached out to the artist’s son Nathan Zakheim to see if he would be interested in preserving his father’s art. The younger Zakheim has accused UCSF of inflating the price, saying preservation would cost a mere $1 million.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the family has 90 days to submit a detailed proposal for how the murals would be removed from the building and preserved. If they do not submit a plan, UCSF will issue a public request for proposals to see if any other individual or group is interested in taking them. If no one responds to that, the murals would be destroyed.