Portal:Chicago/Selected article/59

Mirth & Girth is a portrait painting by School of the Art Institute of Chicago student David K. Nelson, Jr. It was painted in response to what the artist described as the deification of the popular African-American mayor of Chicago, Illinois, Harold Washington, after his sudden death on November 25, 1987 due to cardiac arrest. After a brief showing at a May 11, 1988 private student exhibition in the 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 in the painting. 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 was awarded US$95,000 in compensation for the damaged painting after the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the lower court's decision.