Free Republic

The newly elected Democrat mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, celebrated the removal of a Confederate statue in the city, which was officially gone before noon Wednesday. Democrat Mayor Donna Deegan, who won her mayoral bid in May, celebrated the removal of the statue in Springfield Park, formally known as Confederate Park. The monument in question, “In Memory of Our Women of the Southland,” depicts a mother with her two children at her side, looking down at a book upon her lap. It was erected in October 1915. The Democrat mayor, who said during her time on the campaign trail that she...

A proposed AIDS memorial sculpture in Palm Springs is at the center of a heated debate with its design sparking concerns in the community. The controversial sculpture, meant to honor those who lost their lives to HIV and AIDS, is facing scrutiny for its abstract design and perceived inappropriate connotations. The sculpture, standing at nine feet tall, features a round limestone structure with concentric carved circles, symbolizing the diverse impact of AIDS on the community. Its design is intended to evoke feelings of connection, reflection, and hope. However, not everyone is on board with this artistic vision. "It's really strained....

The city of Boston has taken online and social media heat this weekend after unveiling a 22-foot bronze sculpture that celebrates the relationship between the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. For those who have seen the famous[?] photo of the Kings embracing, it's easier to visualize what Thomas was trying to accomplish. For others, the gigantic bronze sculpture located in Boston Common, the nation's oldest public park, represents different things, depending on the angle from which it is viewed. Seneca Scott, Coretta Scott King's cousin, slammed the statue's aesthetics in an essay for the...

You can’t judge an artist biography by its cover, but based on its size, you can tell a lot about who’s being profiled before you even read the first page. Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan wrote a truly great biography of the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning (732 pages), as well as another, more recent one about Francis Bacon (880 pages). Steven Naifeh penned the ultimate book on Jackson Pollock (934 pages), and Blake Gopnik recently wrote the life story of the Pop artist Andy Warhol (976 pages). The late art historian John Richardson has been celebrated for his...

Germany and Nigeria are set to venture into an agreement to pave way for the return of centuries-old sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes that were taken from Africa in the 19th century and displayed in German museums and elsewhere.Governments and museums in Europe and North America have increasingly sought to resolve ownership disputes over objects looted during colonial times. A British colonial expedition stole the bas-relief Bronzes along with many other treasures in 1897 from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what's now southern Nigeria. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, an authority that oversees many of...

An elderly Catholic sculptor in Nagasaki, Japan, is all set to complete and install the world’s tallest wooden statue of the Virgin Mary after four decades of time, energy and money. Eiji Oyamatsu, 88, a Catholic from Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture, will unveil the 10-meter wooden statue of Mary with the child Jesus at the end of June, reported Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The statue pays tribute to thousands of Christian martyrs of Nagasaki in the 17th century. The single-handed effort by Oyamatsu encouraged a group of volunteers to form the Citizens’ Association for Minami-Shimabara World Heritage in 2018. The group...

A giant Afro hair pick with a clenched "black power" fist was unveiled in New Orleans on Friday in celebration of Juneteenth – the holiday paying tribute to the last American slaves being freed. However, the eyebrow-raising statue was widely panned online.

Anyone else tired of this crap? Here in Virginia they've torn down all the historic "white men" statues!😡New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Friday that, in recognition of the city’s black and brown artists, the city has dedicated $7.2 million in bond funding to public art, and has already purchased over 60 pieces of work created by local black artists.

HONG KONG — Under the cover of darkness early Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong tore down a public sculpture dedicated to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, accelerating a campaign to erase the crackdown from public recollection and stamp out dissent in a city that until recently was one of Asia’s freest. The 26-foot-tall artwork, known as the “Pillar of Shame,” had stood at the University of Hong Kong for nearly a quarter-century and honored the hundreds, if not thousands, of students and others killed on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese military crushed pro-democracy protests....

In New York City, a recently installed sculpture of George Floyd was vandalized overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Detectives are looking for video from the area but at this point no arrests.

President Joe Biden gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pair of sunglasses and a crystal sculpture Wednesday to mark their meeting in Geneva. A White House official described the sunglasses in a statement sent to reporters: Biden prefers the large military-style aviator sunglasses while Putin has been photographed with more narrow sunglasses.

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A group deciding the fates of dozens of Chicago statues and monuments met for the first time Thursday night. The Chicago Monuments Project advisory panel is weighing opinions and considering arguments for and against statues, like the Columbus statue. After protesters tried to pull down the Columbus statue in Grant Park last summer, the Mayor had it and others removed, at least temporarily. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said at the time it had to come down. ""When you have a statue in a place of honor, you are saying that is someone that should be celebrated....Christopher Columbus...

Absolutely arrogant. For Timothy P. Schmalz, an Ontario-based sculptor, that’s really the only way to describe the renewed push to tear down statues that commemorate people who are now deemed out of step with modern morals. When a Confederate figure gets toppled in the U.S., or a prime minister who was part of brutal treatment of Indigenous people is destroyed in Canada, it says more than just disagreeing, Mr. Schmalz said. It’s a claim that we would have known better, acted otherwise. And that’s the hubris. “When one destroys or puts a Confederate statue in a museum, out of sight,...

It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, buried in the desert: His dealer says yes. His son says maybe. His artist buddies, like Ed Ruscha, say, no way the sculptor created this tall, silvery object.

Spanish glassblower Miguel Arribas spent around 500 hours making the world’s largest glass-blown sculpture, a whimsical castle fashioned after Cinderella’s castle, but it took a couple of children just a fraction of a second to ruin it. Presented as a gift to the museum in 2016 to mark its fifth anniversary, Miguel Arribas’ record-setting masterpiece was created using around 500,000 glass loops, weighed 60 kilograms and featured spires made with 24-karat gold. It was made up of approximately 30,000 individual parts and weighed over 60 kilograms. Photo: CGTN/CFP According to sources from the museum, the unfortunate accident occurred on May...

President Trump on Friday during a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore lambasted protesters calling for the removal of Confederate statues, accusing them of wanting to “overthrow the American Revolution” and fundamentally change the country. “There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. Not going to happen to us,” he told a packed crowd. “Make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so...

American Sculpture to Brahm's "Tragic Overture." Follows Lorado Taft's 1903 book, "The History of American Sculpture." Includes William Rush, John Frazee, Horatio Greenough, Hiram Powers, Thomas Crawford, Erastus Dow Palmer, Thomas Ball, Anne Whitney, Randolph Rogers, John Rogers, Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, John Quincy Adams Ward, Augustus Sint Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Lorado Taft and Gutzon Borgium. Remember that these sculptures aren't just our history, they're our art.

You see, it was all part of an extracurricular Skills USA competition and with over 100 hours worth of work invested in the piece, she was a frontrunner for first place. Hayden was knocked for her use of the Chevrolet logo on the truck's grille, which is apparently a no-no. This caused judges to deduct 50 points from her overall score, putting her in second place.

A selection of sculptors from Lorado Taft's 1903 book, "The History of American Sculpture," to Brahm's "Tragic Overture." Oldest to youngest. 1756-1833 William Rush; 1790-1852 John Frazee; 1805-1852 Horatio Greenough; 1805-1873 Hiram Powers; 1813-1857 Thomas Crawford; 1817-1904 Erastus Dow Palmer; 1819-1911 Thomas Ball; 1821-1815 Anne Whitney; 1825-1892 Randolph Rogers; 1829-1904 John Rogers; 1830-1908 Harriet Goodhue Hosmer; 1830-1910 John Quincy Adams Ward; 1848-1907 Augustus Saint Gaudens; 1850-1931 Daniel Chester French; 1860-1936 Lorado Taft; 1867-1941 Gutzon Borgium;