"A lawyer representing the artist Armand Vaillancourt has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the City of San Francisco in response to the controversial plan to demolish the 96-year-old artist's namesake Brutalist fountain at Embarcadero Plaza. The 1971 Vaillancourt Fountain is threatened by a public-private redevelopment scheme that aims to remake the plaza and connect it to an adjacent city park. A recent public outcry has called for the unique work's preservation."
"Though the redevelopment effort is being coordinated by the city's Recreation and Parks Department (Rec), the fountain is technically owned by the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC). As previously reported by Sam Whiting in the San Francisco Chronicle, Rec's general manager sent a letter to top officials of the arts commission on 18 August asking for SFAC to "proceed with the formal deaccession of the Vaillancourt Fountain from the Civic Art Collection and its removal from Embarcadero Plaza"."
"Jack McCarthy, a local museum worker and board member at Docomomo-a non-profit devoted to the study and protection of Modernist architecture-is not convinced that the city is handling the fountain issue in good faith. "If thousands of local, national and international voices continue to be ignored, it's unclear if any amount of community feedback or expert input would cause the project to change course," he tells The Art Newspaper."
A lawyer for Armand Vaillancourt has demanded that the city and other parties immediately cease any steps that could endanger, damage, dismantle or demolish the 1971 Vaillancourt Fountain. The fountain faces removal as part of a public-private redevelopment plan to remake Embarcadero Plaza and connect it to an adjacent park. San Francisco Recreation and Parks is coordinating the effort while the San Francisco Arts Commission technically owns the work; Rec asked SFAC to deaccession the fountain. The city declared the monumental work hazardous and fenced it off, prompting public outcry and preservation advocacy.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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