A painting of a Black man with an American flag draped over his head at the Houston Museum of African American Culture was intentionally damaged last month, museum officials announced this week.<\/p>\n
The painting, \u201cMan in the Garden,\u201d was part of a 10-week exhibition called \u201cEden\u201d by the artist Clarence Heyward. The show, which depicted Black figures with green skin, explored themes of identity,<\/a> environment and self-definition through \u201cstriking portraiture and layered symbolism.\u201d It closed on June 6.<\/p>\n According to John Guess Jr., the museum\u2019s chief executive emeritus and exhibition curator, the episode occurred on May 21 when two young white men dressed in black and carrying a bag entered the museum.<\/p>\n \u201cThey took something like a screwdriver or some scissors, and they scraped across part of the painting, and put a hole\u201d in it, Guess said in a phone interview, estimating the damage at about $4,500.<\/p>\n The piece, which measures 4 feet by 4 feet, is valued at $23,000.<\/p>\n Heyward said in a statement to The New York Times that he was disappointed to learn the work had been damaged but was more interested in what that act revealed.<\/p>\n \u201cArt has long been a space where social tensions become visible, and moments like this raise important questions about why certain images, narratives and perspectives provoke strong reactions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe physical object was harmed, but the ideas at the center of the work remain intact.\u201d<\/p>\n Before damaging Heyward\u2019s painting, Guess said, the men had visited another exhibition at the museum, of work by the artist Kandy G. Lopez, who is also Black. There, they asked someone to take a picture of them giving the middle finger to one of Lopez\u2019s works.<\/p>\n \u201cThese guys came in to do damage to a place that recognizes Black achievement and accomplishment but that also serves as a place of dialogue for people,\u201d Guess said. \u201cI think that they didn\u2019t want any part of dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for the Houston Police Department said a museum official had filed a report the day after the episode. The matter is being investigated, she said, and no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n Security cameras were not operating properly the day of the incident, Guess said, and the museum had put in a work order the day before to have them repaired.<\/p>\n Each year, more than 50,000 people visit the Houston Museum of African American Culture, where admission is free. The museum\u2019s mission is to collect the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans both in Houston and across the African diaspora.<\/p>\n During a news conference<\/a> on Tuesday, Guess linked the vandalism to bigotry in Houston.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re honest about it, this is a very racist town,\u201d he said. \u201cThis town itself has some serious issues. We\u2019re demographically diverse, but we remain segregated.\u201d<\/p>\n The museum initially removed the painting to have it repaired but later decided to display it \u2014 with the damage \u2014 on the last day of the exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just reminded of Emmett Till\u2019s mother saying, I want an open casket<\/a>,\u201d Guess said. \u201cWe want people to know that this happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n