The 2013 campaign to defend the Detroit Institute of Arts

By Fred Mazelis, 20 August 2014

An all-night bargaining session produced a four-year deal based on “equality of sacrifice.”

By David Walsh, 12 July 2014

A leading New York art advisory firm issued a report July 8 on the value of the collection at the DIA and the feasibility of a sale of that artwork, as well as its effect on the art market.

By Thomas Gaist, 4 June 2014

Efforts to sell the art collection outright continue despite the much-touted “Grand Bargain”

By David Walsh, 22 April 2014

A group of Detroit’s creditors has been dangling the DIA’s irreplaceable artwork in front of various hedge funds, private equity firms, billionaire collectors and auction houses.

By David Walsh, 12 April 2014

Major Detroit creditors filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court calling on the court to order the city to cooperate with investor groups interested in purchasing some or all of the DIA’s collection.

Report to the Workers Inquiry

By David Walsh, 26 February 2014

This report was presented February 15 to the Workers Inquiry into the Bankruptcy of Detroit and the Attack on the DIA & Pensions by David Walsh, World Socialist Web Site arts editor.

Behind the fraudulent “rescue” plan

By Thomas Gaist, 18 January 2014

The $100 million demand amounts to an act of extortion and would have a ruinous impact on the museum’s balance sheet.

By our reporters, 3 January 2014

“These things are owned by the people, not just by the city council; they’re the people’s property.”

”They want to go back to the days when art was only for the wealthy”

By Jerry White, 30 December 2013

A Socialist Equality Party team campaigned outside the Detroit Institute of Arts Saturday to build for the Workers Inquiry into the Attack on the DIA to be held February 15 at Wayne State University.

By Joseph Kishore, 20 December 2013

An itemized list from the New York City auction house places the combined monetary value of a selection of the DIA’s most significant artwork at $867 million.

By Jerry White, 13 December 2013

Although the details of the secret discussions involving the fate of the Detroit Institute of Arts remain sketchy, a federal mediator in the Detroit bankruptcy case is reportedly close to a deal that would privatize the DIA.

By David Walsh, 12 December 2013

The proposal to set up a private trust that would buy the Detroit Institute of Arts from the city of Detroit is historically regressive and would place the priceless artwork firmly in the hands of the moneyed elite.

By Jerry White, 5 December 2013

The Detroit bankruptcy ruling handed down Tuesday is a turning point in class relations in the United States.

By Thomas Gaist, 5 December 2013

A WSWS reporting team spoke with Detroit Water and Sewerage Department workers and Wayne State University students Wednesday about the Detroit bankruptcy ruling.

”Art has a long term value which dwarves that of a quick, soon to be forgotten buck”

15 November 2013

As part of the campaign opposing the closure of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the SEP (Britain) solicited this statement from Dr. Adrian Locke.

By Verena Nees, 13 November 2013

The Augsburg state prosecutor is trying to prevent a public debate about the continuing sale of art works stolen by the Hitler regime.

By Nick Barrickman, 8 November 2013

In a development that bears comparison to the crisis in Detroit, the Philadelphia schools have contemplated the sale of major works of art.

Statement of the Socialist Equality Party

4 November 2013

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are organizing a Workers Inquiry as the next stage in the Battle of Detroit in opposition to the entire political establishment.

“More people should be educated about art today, not less”

By Dan Conway and Danielle DeSaxe, 23 October 2013

WSWS reporters spoke Saturday with visitors to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, who denounced plans by Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to “monetize” works from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By Bryan Dyne, 19 October 2013

Former police chief and current mayoral candidate Benny Napoleon said he would sell the art at the DIA to prevent the layoff of police officers.

By Shannon Jones, 16 October 2013

In so far as the report presents any explanation for the crisis in the city, it is to suggest that overly generous wages and benefits are to blame.

15 October 2013

Chrysler and Ford workers voice their opposition to the threatened sale of art from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

10 October 2013

Workers and students spoke on their reasons for attending the “Defend the DIA” demonstration on October 4.

10 October 2013

Messages of support for the campaign to defend the DIA.

“Without the DIA we would not know anything about culture”

By WSWS reporters, 8 October 2013

The WSWS is publishing more interviews from the hundreds of workers and youth who attended last Friday’s demonstration.

By Joseph Kishore and David North, 7 October 2013

Hundreds of workers and youth attended the demonstration called by the Socialist Equality Party, in the first expression of mass opposition to the demands of Detroit’s emergency manager.

By Andre Damon, 7 October 2013

The demonstration, called by the Socialist Equality Party and International Youth and Students for Social Equality, gave expression to popular opposition to the dictates of Detroit’s emergency manager.

By Shannon Jones, 5 October 2013

Five hundred youth, workers, students, professionals and retirees from across the Detroit area expressed the mass opposition to the dictates of the city's emergency manager and the threat to loot the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By Tim Rivers, 5 October 2013

Workers and young people spoke to the WSWS about why they had come to the demonstration.

5 October 2013

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts to protest plans to sell the artwork by Detroit's Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. The demonstration was called by the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.

By Shannon Jones, 4 October 2013

At a Detroit Economic Club luncheon, Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr reiterated his determination to sell DIA artworks to pay off the city’s creditors.

By Betty Hayes, 4 October 2013

Detroit residents facing eviction due to gentrification are sending a delegation to the October 4 demonstration.

”To sell off any of its assets is to rob us all!”

4 October 2013

Messages of support for the campaign to defend the DIA and the October 4 demonstration continue to come in from throughout the US and internationally.

By Joseph Kishore, 3 October 2013

On Friday, the Socialist Equality Party is holding a demonstration outside the Detroit Institute of Arts, the first stage in the party’s campaign to oppose the threatened sale of the museum’s treasures.

3 October 2013

Paul Cox said: “Selling these fine works of art is the most disturbing news I’ve heard for a long time.”

By James Brewer, 3 October 2013

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality held a press conference Tuesday to prepare for Friday’s rally to defend the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By a WSWS reporting team, 3 October 2013

An SEP and IYSSE campaign team spoke to workers and young people at Detroit’s Eastern Market about the threatened sale of DIA artworks and the ongoing cuts in social services.

By a WSWS reporting team, 3 October 2013

Informed about the threatened selloff of the masterpieces of the Detroit Institute of Arts, visitors at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art responded with shock and voiced support for public access to culture.

The working class and the Detroit Industry murals at the DIA

By Tom Mackaman and Jerry White, 3 October 2013

The production of Rivera’s murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts, begun just months after the massacre of protesting workers near Ford’s River Rouge industrial complex, was a major political event.

“The art at the DIA belongs to the people, not to the rich!”

2 October 2013

Lawrence Porter, the SEP’s assistant national secretary, delivered the main remarks at the press conference, which was covered by local media.

2 October 2013

Messages of support for the October 4 demonstration to defend the DIA continue to stream in from the US and internationally.

By Joseph Kishore, 30 September 2013

Obama administration officials visited Detroit to provide a fig leaf of “reform” to the emergency manager’s plans to slash pensions and health care and sell off art from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

“The DIA has really helped educate me”

By Zac Corrigan and Usman Clemens, 30 September 2013

The DIA, which regularly hosts school visits and runs outreach programs to area schools and communities, has long had a powerful impact on young people.

On the 80th anniversary of the DIA’s Rivera Court

By Tim Rivers, 30 September 2013

An exhibition of 14 mural panels commemorating the completion eighty years ago, in March 1933, of Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry frescoes opened September 4 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

28 September 2013

The campaign to defend the DIA is winning widespread support from workers and youth throughout the country and internationally.

By Tom Mackaman, 28 September 2013

Along with the Detroit Institute of Arts, Belle Isle Park in Detroit, initially designed by celebrated landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, is being sized up for sale or liquidation.

27 September 2013

Students and visitors at the College for Creative Studies, across the street from the Detroit Institute of Arts, spoke to the WSWS.

27 September 2013

The Wayne State University International Youth and Students for Social Equality will be showing a film today on the Nazi looting of European art.

27 September 2013

The campaign by the Socialist Equality Party to defend the Detroit Institute of Arts is evoking support from all over the globe.

By WSWS reporting team, 26 September 2013

A WSWS reporting team spoke to Detroit city workers Tuesday about the threat to sell works from the Detroit Institute of Arts.

26 September 2013

Students, artists and workers are among those calling for support for the October 4 demonstration called by the SEP and IYSSE to oppose the selloff of art.

By Joseph Kishore, 25 September 2013

The fight against the sale of artwork at the Detroit Institute of Arts is of the highest importance to the working class in Detroit, throughout the United States and internationally.

By Jerry White, 24 September 2013

Momentum is building for the October 4 demonstration called by the SEP and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) to oppose the selloff of the masterpieces of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By Andre Damon, 23 September 2013

In this video, members of the SEP speak about the historical significance of the museum, the political implications of the drive to sell its art, and the fight to organize workers in its defense.

“This is our culture”

By Jerry White, 23 September 2013

Auto workers at Chrysler’s truck assembly plant in the Detroit suburb of Warren expressed deep support for the arts and anger over the emergency manager’s threat to sell off the masterpieces of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By Joseph Kishore, 23 September 2013

Polls show overwhelming popular opposition to proposals from Detroit’s Emergency Manager to cut pensions and sell off art from the Detroit Institute of Arts, potentially shutting down the museum.

By James Brewer and Lawrence Porter, 20 September 2013

A WSWS team visited Detroit’s Wayne State University campus to campaign against the selloff of art and document the feelings of students and staff.

“It is like selling the soul of the city”

By our reporters, 18 September 2013

At Wayne State University there is widespread opposition to the selloff of masterpieces from the Detroit Institute of Arts threatened by the city’s emergency manager.

By David Walsh, 17 September 2013

We are posting today an edited version of a talk given by WSWS Arts Editor David Walsh to a June 13 meeting on the threat to the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By Tim Rivers and David Walsh, 5 September 2013

The murals at the DIA, which Diego Rivera later asserted were his favorite works, represent an artistic coming to terms with modern life and its implications that is almost without parallel.

By Tim Rivers, 26 August 2013

Many people the WSWS spoke to Saturday in downtown Detroit expressed outrage over the threat to sell precious works from one of the world’s great museum collections.

By David Walsh, 21 August 2013

More details have emerged about the agreement between Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and Christie’s auction house concerning the appraisal of major works at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

By David Walsh, 14 August 2013

The threat to the DIA speaks to the threat to culture and all of the social rights of working people posed by the existing social order.

By Janel Flechsig, 7 August 2013

The auction house is reportedly being paid $200,000 to assess the museum’s artwork for possible liquidation as part of Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings.

By Janel Flechsig, 30 July 2013

The world’s largest fine art auction house visited the Detroit Institute of Arts in early June to appraise the value of the museum’s collection in preparation for its possible selloff.

15 June 2013

We are reposting below a statement originally published by the WSWS last August opposing a property tax promoted by the political and corporate establishment of Detroit and Michigan for the ostensible purpose of “saving” the Detroit Institute of Arts.

“Art shapes the way you see the world”

By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 12 June 2013

We recently spoke to Detroit-area artist Jef Bourgeau about the threat to sell off major works of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and related matters.

By Andre Damon, 10 June 2013

D’Artagnan Collier spoke to workers and youth about threats to sell off the DIA’s art to pay off Detroit’s bondholders.