Posted on 08/30/2011 9:36:19 PM PDT by bronxville
Controversial John Paul statue looks set for makeover Artist ready to make some alterations 29 August, 16:02
(ANSA) - Rome, August 29 - A statue of the late Pope John Paul II at Rome's main train station looks set to be modified after causing a wave of disapproval.
Its author, Italian sculptor and Pontifical Culture Commission member Oliviero Rainaldi, said he is willing to make small alterations to the statue's head and neck, amid reports that a city commission wants a makeover. Rising in the middle of a flowerbed outside the Termini station, the five-metre bronze monument, which has now oxidized into a green hue, was unveiled on May 18, on what would have been the late pope's 91st birthday. It is an abstract rendering of a disembodied Pope with a minimalist cloak billowing out, symbolizing the beloved late pope's all-embracing nature.
Openly criticized across the political spectrum, on social networks and by commuters, the statue has also brought dim views from the Vatican's daily newspaper itself. L'Osservatore Romano said it ''resembles a sentry box'' and that its head is ''excessively spherical''. The city commission has listed several points it sees in need of intervention. Among them are the statue's face, the head's welding and inclination, the arm, the cloak, and the shoulder.
The artist is careful to specify that any changes ''will be minimal. The statue is not being redone.'' ''Substituting the statue would have been too drastic,'' said Culture Undersecretary Francesco Giro, who praised the artist's ''generosity'' in allowing his work to be altered. Some critics called for the statue to be removed, or at the very least to be repositioned so it does not turn its back on people arriving in Rome by train. Rainaldi told Italian media that people had ''misunderstood'' his concept.
''I wasn't thinking of getting a resemblance but a work that could synthesize, in the posture of the head and body and the draping of the cloak, the way the pope went out into the world,'' Rainaldi said.
Some Romans and tourists think the giant artwork looks more like Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
''That bullet-like head on top, it reminds me of Mussolini,'' said Enrico, a 42-year-old computer programmer who commutes from Latina south of Rome...
READ MORE: http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/08/29/visualizza_new.html_730664303.html
I’ll keep an eye-out for any nasty additions added to the “keywords”.
“Here is what John Paul II’s statue should look like.”
Thank you. They’re stunning! It’s difficult to believe, but the artist stated he was so interested in the “universal love” aspect of this statue, that he didn’t pay attention to a facial likeness. The correction won’t make much of a difference. It needs to be removed - period.
I hope they didn’t pay for this in advance.
Did no one approve a sketch?
Post #12 half-way explains the funding etc. The artists sketch was approved but apparently the end-product was nothing like the sketch. IMO, it’s all a bit sketchy and needs to be investigated thereagain perhaps it’s just conspiratorial crazytalk from yours truly which has been known to happen more than once. :)
Goodness gracious! I suspect villages in Poland have better looking statues of John Paul.
Well, they know that they can’t can’t compete with earlier sculptors, so they try for something else. Golly, look at the King Memorial!
The second one is especially moving since he lost his earthly mother ar an early age.
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