Should outdoor murals be historic landmarks?
Under the city’s historic preservation laws, murals can be nominated as an “object,” a designation that so far has also included a select group of fountains, statues and horse troughs.
The measure defines such an object as a “material thing of functional, aesthetic, cultural, historic, or scientific value that may be, by nature or design, movable but yet related to a specific setting or environment.”
Alexander Till, a historic preservation planner with the commission, said he nominated the mural because he considers Haring “an extremely important artist.” The designation, he said, would give the city “an opportunity to preserve this piece of his work and his legacy in Philadelphia.”
“We have only a handful of objects designated in Philadelphia, so this may also help set an example for the types of public artworks and other objects, like memorials or fountains, that could be highlighted and protected by designating them to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places,” Till said.
The commission’s Committee on Historic Designation will consider the mural at its next meeting on July 22. The nomination would have to pass the full commission for the mural to be added to the register.
Haring came to Philly through a collaboration with the Brandywine Workshop, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit rooted in public art projects, and CityKids Foundation, a New York City-based youth outreach organization.
The piece covers an exposed party wall near the corner of 22nd and Ellsworth streets, rising above a community garden dedicated to the late artist.
Haring outlined the dancing figures in thick black paint, and the students filled them with color. The final design features bright primary and secondary colors — green, blue, yellow and red — along with a variety of patterns and symbols. Haring said the students’ contribution was substantial.
“Because of how much paint they put on, it still comes out being a pretty half-and-half combination,” Haring said in a video made that year.
The title, “We the Youth,” is a riff on the first three words of the Constitution’s preamble, “We the People.”
“The actual picture doesn’t really say much about the Constitution, but bringing people from all different backgrounds, and all different places in this case, here to work on this mural, that’s like doing something unified,” one of the student artists says in the video.
Keith Haring’s enduring legacy
In subsequent years, the mural deteriorated, and there were fears that it would be lost after the property was flipped and underwent renovations.
Its new owners wanted to preserve the mural, however. And with help from the Keith Haring Foundation, Mural Arts Philadelphia painstakingly restored the wall and the mural in 2013. The piece is now part of the organization’s Restoration Program.
“Keith believed that art was for everyone and should be accessible, so having this mural still at this location for nearly 40 years is historically important,” Golden said.
According to the nomination, “We the Youth” is one of 50 public murals Haring painted in locations around the world between 1982 and 1989. Many of them were created at schools, hospitals and other community spaces.
Haring, who was born and raised in Berks County, Pennsylvania, rose to prominence through New York City’s downtown art and graffiti scenes of the 1980s.
He first gained notoriety by creating hundreds of spontaneous chalk drawings in New York City subway stations. Drawn on matte black advertising panels, the ephemeral graffiti became a familiar sight for commuters, many of whom would stop to talk with Haring while he worked.
From there, he started doing larger works, including paintings, sculptures and installations. His art appeared in major international shows and on the cover of Vanity Fair.
He “frequently addressed political and social issues important to him through his work, including anti-apartheid activism, drug use, homosexuality, safe sex, and AIDS awareness,” according to the nomination.
Haring died in 1991 at 31 years old from AIDS-related complications.