The historic “Solidarity” mural painted inside a Near West Side union hall by venerable Chicago artists John Pitman Weber and the late Jose Guerrero is, if not unique, incredibly unusual.
After all, it illustrates in graphic detail the struggles of working people, the power of organized labor and the ugliness of corporate America. Not a lot of artwork today embraces such themes, and in this manner — with images of a Klansman, menacing National Guard troops and a southern sheriff along with factory workers pushing back, literally, against oppressive forces.
And it’s been there — winding up and along a staircase at the United Electrical Workers hall at 37 S. Ashland Ave. — since 1974, making it 50 years old and one of the oldest pieces of public (or semi-public) art in the Chicago area.
Weber also noted that “it’s unique compositionally,” as it’s bending with the walls and adjusting for doorways and corners.
Yet, there was no certainty the mural was going to last.
The union announced last year it was selling the two-story building, which is destined to be ripped apart, expanded and redeveloped into residential units. The mural seemed doomed.
Weber says, “The idea of losing the whole thing was just terribly saddening.”
But enough money has been raised, more than $150,000 and counting, to save the mural or, at least, a large portion of it.
Indeed, the process of prepping and removing the artwork from the walls by, in effect, tearing out heavy slabs of wood and plaster with the mural, has already begun and should continue into March.
“It looks like they’re going to be able to save significant sections of it,” Weber says. “It’s very encouraging.”
“I think it’s going to take a while” before the painting is displayed again, he added. “They just have the funds to get this stuff out, to cut out the sections they think they’re going to be able to reinstall and have them stored properly.”
Donations have come from friends of the union, private foundations and an ongoing crowdfunding campaign, officials say. There will be a second round of fundraising for the restoration and installation.
“Preparing them to have them re-hung is going to cost another couple hundred thousand, at least,” Weber says. “That might take anywhere from two years to four years is my guess because the place that does it is very busy and it’s slow, painstaking work.”
The union is moving to another Near West Side building, at 1901 W. Carroll Ave., that’s occupied by the Chicago Teachers Union, and the artwork is expected to be displayed there at some point, says Carl Rosen of the Electrical Workers.
He says there will be a lot more eyes on the art at the new office because of all the foot traffic there, “which is great” because the painting tells an important story “of industrial unionism in this country and the way the labor movement was built to stand up on behalf of working people not just in the workplace but society as a whole.”
Click on the map below for a selection of Chicago-area murals