Discover the story behind the mural, "A Book Full of Fun," painted by Keith Haring in 1989 at Ernest Horn Elementary School during his lesser known trip to Iowa City.
After corresponding with the students at Horn Elementary for several years, Haring made a one-day stop at the school to create the iconic artwork. This came years after his first visit to Iowa City in 1984 at the invitation of an art teacher, Colleen Ernst, who explained that her students were fascinated with his work.
The Stanley Museum of Art stepped in to conserve and restore Haring’s mural while the school undergoes renovations. As conservators examined the painting and prepared to move it, they realized that the plaster-covered plywood panels of the mural were glued and bolted to the cinderblock wall and could not be safely removed. To avoid damaging the mural, conservators resolved to move it along with a portion of the wall to which it was affixed. To achieve this, they supported the mural with an acrylic backing and a rigid frame, sawed it free from the rest of the wall and transported the 4,000-pound structure to the Stanley Museum of Art, where it will be conserved and made ready for the exhibition, "To My Friends at Horn: Keith Haring and Iowa City," opening May 4, 2024.
Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988 and died from complications related to the illness in 1990, less than a year after painting "A Book Full of Fun" in Iowa City.
Learn more about the exhibition here: stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/art/e...
All images are copyright of the Keith Haring Foundation.
Video by Adrian Carmenate.