Vandals Damage Work by Black Artist at Houston Museum, Officials Say

Vandals Damage Work by Black Artist at Houston Museum, Officials Say

Two men scraped and punctured a $23,000 painting at the Houston Museum of African American Culture last month, the museum said. It decided to display the damaged artwork.

By Derrick Bryson Taylor
June 13, 2026, 2:07 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/13/arts/houston-museum-black-art-vandalized.html

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“Man in the Garden” is valued at $23,000. A museum official estimated the damage at about $4,500.Credit...Houston Museum of African American Culture



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According to John Guess Jr., the museum’s chief executive emeritus and exhibition curator, the episode occurred on May 21 when two young white men dressed in black and carrying a bag entered the museum.

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Before damaging Heyward’s painting, Guess said, the men had visited another exhibition at the museum, of work by the artist Kandy G. Lopez, who is also Black. There, they asked someone to take a picture of them giving the middle finger to one of Lopez’s works.

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Each year, more than 50,000 people visit the Houston Museum of African American Culture, where admission is free. The museum’s mission is to collect the material and intellectual culture of Africans and African Americans both in Houston and across the African diaspora.

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“If we’re honest about it, this is a very racist town,” he said. “This town itself has some serious issues. We’re demographically diverse, but we remain segregated.” The museum initially removed the painting to have it repaired but later decided to display it — with the damage — on the last day of the exhibition.

“I was just reminded of Emmett Till’s mother saying, I want an open casket,” Guess said. “We want people to know that this happens here.”



Derrick Bryson Taylor is a Times reporter covering breaking news in culture and the arts.




Security cameras were not operating the day of the incident. The museum had put in a work order the day before to have them repaired.