Suit Filed in Seizure of Picture in Chicago
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an artist whose portrait of the late Mayor Harold Washington in women’s undergarments was seized by policemen at an exhibition.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, seeks $100,000 in damages from Police Supt. LeRoy Martin, unidentified officers and three City Council members.
Several black aldermen marched from City Hall to the School of the Art Institute on May 11 to demand that the portrait by David Nelson be removed from an exhibiton of students’ work. Police officers seized the painting, saying the display could provoke a riot.
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