Protesters Ask Museum To Close Show By Emmett Till Artist After Whitney Exhibit

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A group of activists are demanding that works by Dana Schutz, the white painter who stirred controversy with her painting of Emmett Till for the Whitney Biennial exhibit, be banned from the Boston museum where she is next scheduled to have a show.

Schutz's painting, titled "Open Casket," is inspired by photographs from Emmett Till's open casket funeral in 1955. The black 14-year-old was murdered in one of the nation's most notorious lynchings. The painting was included in the Whitney Biennial exhibit, which opened at the West Village space in March. At the time, activists criticized Schutz's work, saying she didn't have the authority to speak for the black community or profit from their pain. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"I feel like she doesn’t have the privilege to speak for black people as a whole or for Emmett Till’s family," said Parker Bright, an African-American artist who staged peaceful protests in front of the painting at the Whitney.

Now, as a new collection of Schutz's work has opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, protestors are demanding that the exhibit be shut down. "Open Casket" is not among the works included in Schutz's exhibit in Boston.

Despite similar protests at the West Village museum, curators with the Whitney refused to remove "Open Casket" from the exhibit, which ran from March 17 through June 11.

Curators and leaders with the Institute of Contemporary Art say they have met with the community members and activists who have expressed opposition to Schutz's show in Boston, which opened on July 26 and is scheduled to close Nov. 26.

"Please pull the show," the community members wrote in a July 25 letter to the Boston museum. "This is not about censorship. This is about institutional accountability, as the institutions working with the artist are even now not acknowledging that this nation is not an even playing field. During this violent climate, to show true accountability, we need institutions to go bold."

The museum's director Jill Medvedow said in a statement that show would continue as planned.

"This past March when her painting Open Casket was shown at the Whitney Biennial, there were a range of responses, including many who felt that the painting embodied privilege and had caused them pain," Medvedow said in a statement. "Art often exposes the fault lines in our culture, and Open Casket raised difficult questions about cultural appropriation, race, and representation."

Lead image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News.