Collage: Artists in California (Directions in Collage)

The exhibition Collage: Artists in California (Directions in Collage) featured 82 works by 56 artists, including Larry Bell (b. 1939), Billy Al Bengston (1934–2022) and Ed Ruscha (b. 1937). Of the exhibited works, the collage MACKS by George Herms (b. 1935) proved to be the most controversial because it included a tattered American flag, which some, like The American Legion, saw as disrespectful.  They demanded that the museum remove the collage from the show, but both the artist and the Museum’s Board of Trustees refused. This decision resulted in a break-in: a vandal ripped the flag from the work and left a note explaining, “I did what had to be done.” The artist left the work on display with his own note in the flag’s place: “The piece has been raped by a madman. Despite this degradation the forces of creation will go on. Love, G.H.”