Posts Tagged ‘public art’

American Venus: The Tragedy of America’s First Supermodel

July 1, 2021

Audrey Munson (1891 – 1996), the “American Venus,” an artist’s model and film actress, was the model or inspiration for scores of statues in New York City and across the country. She appeared, nude, in the 1915 film Inspiration (re-issued in 1918 as The Perfect Model), the 1916 film Purity, and also in Heedless Moths (1921). Her long life didn’t end as glamously. After a series of scandals, she attempted suicide in 1922, and spent 65 years in an asylum before her death at age 104. Even though her likeness appears on sculptures and images across America, her grave was unmarked until 2016.

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Biden Uproots Trump’s ‘Garden of Heroes’

May 18, 2021

Biden Uproots Trump's 'Garden of Heroes'

Disgraced ex-president Donald Trump once told the Times of London he had no heroes, but, nevertheless, he ordered erection of a National Garden of American Heroes before his Mar-a-Logo exile.

Nevermind that he had no location or budget. He wanted to honor the men and women who made America great, people like Daniel Boone, Kobe Bryant, William F. Buckley, Jr., Johnny Cash, Whittaker Chambers, Buffalo Bill Cody, Davy Crockett, Walt Disney, Milton Friedman, Lou Gehrig, Dr. Seuss, Barry Goldwater, Billy Graham, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Sam Houston, Whitney Houston, Steve Jobs, Vince Lombardi, Annie Oakley, Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Babe Ruth, Antonin Scalia, Fulton Sheen, Shirley Temple, Alex Trebek, John Wayne, and Cy Young.

Historians think that’s a bad idea. So does current president Joe Biden, who rescinded the Dead Celebrity Garden order.

More:

“Biden kills Trump’s sculpture garden of ‘American heroes,’” Nick Niedzwiadek, Politico

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Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-x8u

Image (alternate “Heroes Garden” concept) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

Trump Executive Order: Create a ‘Garden of Heroes’

January 21, 2021

Trump Executive Order: Create a 'Garden of Heroes'

Two days before fleeing the mess he made in Washington, lame duck Donald Trump issued an executive order “establishing a statuary park named the “National Garden of American Heroes,” his reaction to the removal of statues celebrating America’s racist past. In keeping with his deep reverence for America’s history, Trump’s imaginary garden is planted with tributes to 244 legendary dead Americans like William F Buckley, Johnny Cash, Alex Trebek, Vince Lombardi, Walt Disney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Daniel Boone, Kobe Bryant, Johnny Cash, Whittaker Chambers, Julia Child, Henry Clay, Roberto Clemente, Buffalo Bill Cody, Samuel Colt, Davy Crockett, Barry Goldwater, Billy Graham, Charlton Heston, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Audie Murphy, Annie Oakey, Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Norman Rockwell, Babe Ruth, Fulton Sheen, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Shirley Temple, Sam Walton, and Cy Young, as well as founding fathers like John Wayne.

Also included are some notable personages who might object to inclusion in this Trump-ordered hodgepodge were they not conveniently expired: Muhammad Ali (Muslim and Civil Rights activist), Hannah Arendt (analyst of Totalitarianism), Dorothy Day (founder of the Catholic Worker movement), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (liberal feminist jurist), Samuel Gompers (labor leader), Woodie Guthrie (radical songwriter), Helen Keller (suffragist, pacifist, radical socialist, ACLU founder), Edward Murrow (journalist), environmentalists Ansel Adams and John Muir, and Civil Rights icons Medgar Evers, Barbara Jordan, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Rosa Parks, for example.

Don’t get too excited about this. The Executive Order doesn’t specify a site for the “Garden of Heroes,”and there’s no funding, either. In other words, it’s a typical Trump construction project.

More:

“Trump orders creation of ‘Garden of American Heroes’ amid backlash over monuments,” Martin Pengelly, The Guardian

“I Beg Your Garden? Trump Adds ‘Hero’ Names To Statue Garden Unlikely To Take Root,” Barbra Sprunt, NPR News

Executive Order 13934 Revised, January 18, 2021

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Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-wz6

Image (alternate “Heroes Garden” concept) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Philly has murals.

September 27, 2017

The city of Philadelphia thought it was getting an anti-graffiti  program. What it got was art. Phil Edwards of Vox explains.

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Short link:  http://wp.me/p6sb6-pH6

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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New Ronald Reagan Statue at DC Airport

November 2, 2011

New Ronald Reagan Statue at DC Airport

In 1998, a reverential Republican Congress changed the name of DC’s National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. On Monday, a grateful nation’s corporate owners unleashed a sculptural tribute to our sainted 40th President there. The nine-foot erection is convenient to one of the airport’s Pet Relief Areas (dog owners: please do not confuse the two).

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DC Creates Public Art Program Vision in the District of Columbia

February 10, 2009

DC Creates Public Art Program Vision in the District of Columbia.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities has invited Washington residents to “Get Involved: Learn About the Public Art Community Open House.”

When: Today, Tuesday February 11, 2009, 5PM to 7PM

Where: Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library (901 G Street NW, near Gallery Place-Chinatown and Metro Center stations).

How:To RSVP and for more information call or email: Deirdre Ehlen at (202) 724-5613 or Deirdre.Ehlen@dc.gov

What: For more information, look here and here … well … not much more information, is there. No agenda has been provided; we will bring our own.

Background: DCCAH Public Arts ProgramsDC Revised Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 14 (Arts and Culture)

 

[Full disclosure: the writer worked for this agency many years ago].

Image by Mike Licht (with help from DCCAH and the State University of Iowa). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.