Free Republic

They’ve got a three-year itch. A group of Palm Springs residents are fighting to remove a towering statue of Marilyn Monroe in one of her most iconic poses, arguing that the work is a sexist eyesore that blocks traffic. On Feb. 23, the Art Newspaper reported, California’s 4th District Court of Appeals overturned a motion to dismiss a lawsuit by the Committee to Relocate Marilyn (Crema), which is battling to remove Seward Johnson’s 2011 sculpture “Forever Marilyn” from its current site outside the Palm Springs Art Museum.

Vandals doused the statue of Christopher Columbus in Central Park with red paint and scrawled “Murderer” across its stone pedestal, police said Monday. Detectives have a video of two people — possibly a man and a woman — defacing the statue at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday with spray paint, an NYPD spokesperson said The pair wrote “land back” on three sides of the bronze-and-granite statue and “Murderer” on another, police said. There’ve been no arrests, but the NYPD is investigating the incident. If caught, the spray-paint artists will likely be charged with vandalism and making graffiti, the spokesperson said. Metal...

Presidents Day provides a moment to reflect on how America’s chief executives have shaped and reflected our history. But our presidents and first ladies have also been history makers overseas, symbolized by dozens of statues and monuments to American presidents in countries large and small around the world... Last year we were honored to set a wreath at the Abraham Lincoln statue in the Old Calton Burial Ground in Edinburgh, Scotland, the first erected in Europe to honor a U.S. president, in 1893. Lincoln did not live to visit Scotland as he hoped, but he loved to quote Robert Burns...

Cobb's state senators split along party lines over a proposal to install a statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds of the state CapitolAs we’ve previously documented, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ mere existence routinely brings out the absolute worst from his woke critics on the left, not just because he’s so good at what he does but also because he’s a black man who unapologetically dared to stray from Democratic orthodoxy, never looking back.A favorite attack line of some of Thomas’ more unhinged critics is that he’s a sellout to his race (and, by extension,...

Surveillance footage provided to police by the church showed Reynolds, 35, enter the church and knock over a potted plant. She then approached a large statue of Jesus, ripped it off the wall and smashed it on the ground, according to court documents. She can then be seen leaving the church in the video. Police detained Reynolds after she tried to run away and said she was unable to answer basic questions. Police estimate the statue could cost up to $11,500 to repair or replace, according to KVRR. Reynolds was charged with criminal mischief, driving under the influence and providing...

AUBURN, NY — Following the new tradition of erecting disturbing modern-art monuments for prominent historical figures, the city of Auburn has unveiled a bronze statue of abolitionist and Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman's left big toe. "We felt that this was a fitting tribute for the great Harriet Tubman," said Brandon Quezada, chairman of the city's Artistic Initiatives Committee. "Knowing that Boston was unveiling the unspeakably creepy ‘The Embrace' statue for Dr. Martin Luther King that bears a striking resemblance to various human organs mashed together in an ungodly chimeric abomination from the pit of hell, creating a monument depicting...

Miami police have arrested the man allegedly responsible for the theft of a naked statue of Donald Trump that stood over a section of the Wynwood neighborhood. Pedro Rodriguez, 36, has been charged with grand theft and burglary, police say. Miami Police PIO said the naked Donald Trump statue has been returned and is in its owner’s possession. No further details were disclosed on the status of the statue. UPDATE: Correction, statue was not recovered, but an arrest has been made. Pedro Rodriguez has been charged with Grand Theft and Burglary. https://t.co/wI84C5LETI — Miami PD (@MiamiPD) September 23, 2016 According...

Remnants of a statue depicting Hercules that derives from ancient Roman times was unearthed during an excavation of an archeological site in Greece, according to a report by Greek City Times. The larger-than-life statue of a young Hercules, dated to the 2nd century C.E., was uncovered at a site formerly known to be the ancient city of Philippi, located the country’s northern region by researchers at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AuTH). The team was led by Natalia Poulos, a professor at AuTH, in collaboration with her colleagues there Anastasios Tantsis and Emeritus Professor Aristotle Menzos; 24 students (18 undergraduates, 3...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxOoke7A5HY

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.

A newly erected statue of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has been vandalised again, not even a month after it was first put up. Having been standing for less than a month in the English town of Grantham, the statue of the former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has once again been vandalised.

Earlier this month, crews dismantling the pedestal found a time capsule embedded in a granite block that some thought might have been the one placed in 1887. But after state conservators spent hours last week gingerly prying the box open, they didn't find the expected trove of objects related to the Confederacy. Instead, conservators pulled out a few waterlogged books, a silver coin and an envelope with some papers... The Lee statue was erected atop the soaring pedestal in 1890 in the former capital of the Confederacy. Its removal in September came more than a year after Northam ordered it...

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....

RICHMOND, Va. — A rust-colored 1875 almanac, a cloth envelope and a silver coin were found Wednesday in a time capsule that lay hidden beneath a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Virginia for more than 130 years. As intriguing as the water-damaged items were, they’re not what many were expecting to see after state conservators spent five hours gingerly prying the time capsule open. Even the mortar-encrusted lead box was a bit of a surprise.... ...There were three books total. Besides the almanac, there was a tattered book with a pink cover that appeared to be...

The Charlottesville, Va. city council on Tuesday unanimously approved for the statue of Confederate leader Robert E. Lee to be melted down to create public artwork "that will "reflect racial justice," The New York Times reported. The city council will give the statue to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which plans to melt the monument to create a new piece of public artwork, according to the proposed measure. The city council selected the Jefferson School’s proposal “Swords Into Plowshares,” from other potential bidders for the statue, according to The Times.

The removal of a statue of Thomas Jefferson from New York City Hall on November 22nd raises troubling questions. That the statue had been there unmolested since 1833 reconfirms that ours is a harsh era of savage reassessments without the tempering influence of context. Whose fault is it that Thomas Jefferson's statue is, for many Americans, no longer acceptable for public display? Rejection of American heroes of the past is an essential element of Democrat revolutionary ideology. One can only observe in astonishment as slaveholding Founding Fathers like Jefferson are strongly rejected on "moral grounds" by the very same Democrats...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez says Facebook has repeatedly refused to turn over account information pertaining to members of the New Mexico Civil Guard.The self-declared militia started showing up to Albuquerque protests last summer. Massive protests were held across the country after George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. The New Mexico Civil Guard claimed they were keeping the peace at local protests.In July 2020, Torrez filed a civil lawsuit against the New Mexico Civil Guard. He's hoping to get a ruling from a judge that will ban milita groups from organizing and operating in New Mexico.As part...

The New York City Council Chamber voted to remove a historic statue of former President Thomas Jefferson, citing his history as a slave owner. The statue, commissioned by a U.S. Navy commodore in 1833, spent 187 years in the City Council’s chambers before being removed from its pedestal Monday, according to the New York Post. Approximately a dozen Marshall Fine Arts workers surrounded the structure with wooden and foam boards before using a pulley system to lower it into the downstairs rotunda and carrying it out the back door, the Post reported “Removing a monument without a public conversation about...

A "problematic" statue of Theodore Roosevelt outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City that has been criticized for symbolizing colonialism and racism has found a new home, more than a year after the city announced it will be removed. The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library said Friday it has agreed to take the statue of the former president, which has stood on the steps of the museum since 1940, for a long-term loan.... ...The statue is considered "problematic" due to its composition, the library said. The piece depicts Roosevelt on horseback, while Native American and African figures...

Middle Peninsula voters overwhelmingly want to keep their Confederate monuments, according to results of advisory referendums in Mathews and Middlesex counties. Mathews voters rejected a proposal to relocate the county’s Soldier’s & Sailor’s Monument on its court green at the corner of Court and Church streets by 3,778, or 80% of ballots cast, to 939, or 20%. In Middlesex, the vote against moving its Civil War Monument from the courthouse grounds in Saluda was 3,229, or 75% of ballots cast, to 1,076.