Sargent Johnson Screen at UC Berkeley's Clark Kerr Campus
Sargent Johnson Screen at UC Berkeley’s Clark Kerr Campus
The University of California, Berkeley, mistakenly sold a masterwork by WPA sculptor Sargent Johnson for $150. The 22-foot-long redwood carving, reportedly valued at around a million dollars, had been misplaced and sold as surplus. In March, the Berkeley City Council sent a letter to university President Mark Yudof demanding an inventory of UC’s public artwork and protocols to prevent such mistakes. “The Berkeley City Council sees the sale of the Sargent Johnson carving as a regrettable loss to the public, especially to the African-American community, and to Berkeley’s artistic legacy,” the Council’s resolution reads. The university has not responded. Read more
For an idea of the importance of Sargent Johnson in African-American Art, see the recent Washington Post story on the exhibition of African-American art at the Smithsonian Institution.