Jacob Landau Institute responds to perma-covering of Tree Man mural on 16th and South

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Jacob Landau Institute responds to perma-covering of Tree Man mural on 16th and South

POSTED: Monday, August 2, 2010, 4:34 PM

Filed Under: Arts Philly Artists

Molly Eichel

Tree Man as of the morning of July 23.

A couple weeks ago, we mourned the eventual death of Jacob Landau's Tree Man mural, which was in the process of being covered by a new building on the corner of 16th and South streets. Today, we got a call from David Herrstrom, president of the Jacob Landau Institute, a New Jersey non-profit that works to further Landau's educational philosophy and get his works shown. Our call to the Institute was the first Herrstrom heard about the uprooting of Tree Man. "I'd always have great affection for [Tree Man] myself," say Herrstrom. "I don't know if we could have done anything. It's amazing, it's tragic. The lot was purchased, I'm sure, but with these things unfortunately money always trumps art; "progress." Investment has to trump Tree Man." Herrstrom admits that there was probably little he or his organization could have done but that doesn't mean they would have remained silent. "It's sad that there wasn't some other voice raised," says Landau. "Someone should have known about this in the arts council in Philadelphia. Certainly we have some contact in the Philadelphia community and we could have at least done a petition." He asked if there was at least an alley in between the two buildings where Tree Man could still be seen. We told him there wasn't as far as we could see from outside-the-fence investigation. "Cheek by jowl!" Herrstrom says. "Well, that's disturbing." When we last reported on Tree Man, the top quarter of the mural was still visible (as seen above), but it's now completely covered by the new building. RELATED >> Goodbye Tree Man mural on 16th & South!

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