'Heresy': historic art college's fate could hang on a Diego Rivera mural

Facing a financial bind, the San Francisco Art Institute has considered selling the 1931 work, a testament to the power of labor

The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City has occupied an entire wall at the San Francisco Art Institute since Diego Rivera painted it there in 1931. A remarkable depiction of labor power in San Francisco's industrial heyday, it is valued at roughly $50m - an enticing windfall for a school in serious jeopardy.

SFAI trustees have floated the idea of selling it as a last-ditch effort to keep one of the US's oldest art colleges open after a years-long financial crisis. (George Lucas was reportedly an interested buyer.)