Brooke Oliver It is not only Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescos or the murals of Diego Rivera which inspire passion. On storefronts, city buildings, schools, and along alleys, murals by some of California's greatest artists illustrate themes ranging from the sublime to the political. One San Francisco mural, on the Women's Building, covers two entire facades of a four story building with a multicultural painted tapestry of women's history, cultural contributions, and goddesses. Another, The Great Wall of Los Angeles, runs for a full half a mile along the Tujunga wash in Los Angeles, depicting the history of the struggle of the Chicano people in California. Murals are fine art available for viewing by all, without the price of admission to a museum.
Murals are also at the nexis of recent controversies in public art.
Publishers and photographers often mistakenly assume that murals displayed along public streets are in the public domain, snapping up the images for use in books and commercials. In fact, murals are protected from such misappropriation by copyright law. Murals are also becoming big business, as some muralists use high-speed production techniques to increase the number and profitability of their original murals, along with business savvy to market mural merchandise. This article will focus on the muralists' federal copyrights. Muralists rights of attribution and integrity, especially as they relate to the rights of building owners, are beyond the scope of this article.