Art in the Courtroom: Dealing with New Deal-era Murals – Part I

By Olivia Taylor.

Fans of Parks and Recreation may remember an episode which revolves around a 1930’s mural painted on the walls of Pawnee City Hall. In the show, the mural was vandalized by offended citizens because it depicted racist scenes from U.S. history. In response to the public’s unease, the town renamed the mural and wrote a statement instructing viewers that they should consider the piece as both historically important and artistic, yet horrifying and shameful.

While re-contextualizing controversial historical art apparently makes for good social/comedic commentary, it is also a real phenomenon that has confronted public art in the recent years. This narrative hit home when it was discovered that Simka Simkhovitch, artist and great grandfather to the author, painted a courthouse mural in Jackson, Mississippi in 1937, which later became controversial. The story of Simka’s mural will serve as a microcosm for the legal issues surrounding controversial public art in a two-part article series. The aim of this series is first, to discuss whether displaying or hiding controversial murals is legal under the First Amendment and second, to analyze if re-contextualizing the work is legal under Copyright Law, since it seems that re-contextualizing historic and controversial art is the best way to preserve it.