Art Strike against racism, sexism, repression & war demonstration on the steps of the MET museum (22 May 1970)

This photo shows a large gathering of protestors at the entrance of the MET museum with helmeted policemen watching over their activities. One of the protestors appears to be speaking into a megaphone, making announcements to the crowd.

The Art Strike called upon all New York City Museums and galleries to show solidarity with their strike against ‘war, racism and repression’ by closing their doors for a day, and a number of museums including the Whitney and the Jewish Museum and some 50 galleries closed in sympathy with the strike. The MoMa cancelled its $1.5 mission charge for the day and the Guggenheim stripped its walls of all art and suspended their entrance charge for the day. However, the MET museum did not do anything to show solidarity and to make its position explicit, it decided instead, to remain open for 5 extra hours and this triggered a large protest at its doorstep. The crowd in front of the museum included nearly 500 protestors and a large number of helmeted policemen to keep the situation under control. The museum attempted to negotiate and hour’s closure instead of a whole day with the crowd but the offer was refused. However, as declared in an earlier statement, the Art Strike maintained that they were against any form of violence or destruction of property or art work, and protested peacefully on the steps of the museum.

(https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/23/archives/500-in-art-strike-sit-on-ste…)