By Abby Sigler
Will Maynez has cherished Diego Rivera’s Pan American Unity mural for nearly three decades, yet he’s unsure if he’ll live to see it again.
Since he became enamored with the piece in 1996, the former City College lab manager has acted as its steward and historian. Even after retiring from the Physics Department more than a decade ago, Maynez continued to give talks, lead tours, and collect stories from people with ties to the mural.
Diego Rivera painted Pan American Unity in 1940 for the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Stretching across ten panels and more than 1,600 square feet, Rivera’s largest mural weaves together depictions of Frida Kahlo, Charlie Chaplin, Henry Ford, Indigenous artisans, and modern machinery.
During its three-year stint on display at SFMOMA, more than 600,000 visitors marveled at the fresco. However, since its return to City College in early 2024, Pan American Unity has been sealed away in storage, with no clear timeline for its return to public view.
“I’m curious if I’ll ever see the mural up again,” Maynez said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t in the cards for me.”
Stuck In Limbo
The plan had been to install the mural in the new Diego Rivera Theater upon its return to the college, but the building project’s timeline frayed due to numerous delays. As a result, the mural had no official home to return to on campus and has sat in storage for the past year and a half.
Project manager Jasmine Kaw from the Office of Facilities and Capital Planning cited the pandemic, a lengthy design process, and an extended state review.
“Usually, a project like this takes at least a year, if not more. This has turned out to take a lot more,” Kaw said.
Despite the setbacks, the college expects to break ground this fall. With an estimated 30-month build time, Pan American Unity wouldn’t be reinstalled until roughly spring 2028 — four years after its return from SFMOMA.
For Maynez, that long absence reflects a deeper failure. “If you have a treasure and you’re keeping it in storage,” he said, “there’s something wrong with your stewardship.”
Keeping Watch
While the mural’s disassembled panels await their new home, Maynez is pushing for regular monitoring by professional conservators who have long cared for the piece. “We should set up some kind of schedule where every six months somebody comes in and checks the mural,” he said.
City College’s Works of Art committee has voiced the same concern. “People with conservation knowledge should be checking on the mural,” said committee chair Barbara Lass.
Kaw notes that steps have been taken to protect the fresco. “We’re making sure to minimize dust and keep the space at a specific humidity level,” she explained.
Still, no formal monitoring plan has been put in place. Maynez says the churn of City College leadership over the past decade has posed a challenge to the mural’s care. “There’s been no stakeholders,” he said.
Lass agreed the responsibility is diffuse. While major decisions ultimately rest with the Board of Trustees, she said, the mural’s care requires “a lot of different moving parts to work together.”
A School’s Priceless Treasure
When the 30-ton fresco travelled from City College to SFMOMA in 2021, it was a phenomenon. NBC Bay Area chronicled the process in a documentary that captured the tense, meticulous work of relocating a piece of art that size.
Lass described how the Works of Art committee occasionally hears from people saddened by the mural’s absence. “It’s a loss – but it’s temporary. When it returns, it will be more accessible than ever before.”
For Maynez, the mural has always been more than a work of art. He spent two of his decades caring for it alongside the late Julia Bergman, a City College librarian and fellow advocate. “Julia would always say we could teach anything with that mural… we could teach math, history, art,” Maynez recalled. “Each time you look at it, you get a little more.”
Maynez said he has a meeting scheduled with Chancellor Kimberlee Messina to discuss a conservation strategy for the prized mural.
In the meantime, there are other ways to encounter Pan American Unity. A replica commissioned by Maynez hangs in the Pierre Coste Dining Room. Stanford University hosts high-resolution digital scans online. Maynez himself continues to update his website with history, photographs, and essays. A living record of a mural still hidden from view.